Heist and Hostages
by MoxiesdenLovesShandy
Summary: Andy is still on desk duty after the incident that happened in "Shots Fired". He can't wait to get back into the field, but when a life-threatening situation occurs with someone close to him, will he be able to follow directions or will he face the consequences of his actions.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** I'm back with a new story! This story picks up around 3 weeks following the events in "Shots Fired". Hope you all enjoy it!

Chapter 1

It has been three weeks since Andy got shot and he was recovering well. He was on his third week of desk duty and the rest of the team kept giving him paperwork to file from their latest case. He sat at his desk looking over the files when Provenza walked over to him. "You know, we should just make you a new sign for your desk" Provenza said to him as Andy looked up at his friend. "Lieutenant Andy Flynn, Glorified Desk Monkey" Provenza added and laughed. "Ha, ha, very funny Provenza" Andy said to him as he leaned back in his chair. "Keep it up and I will leave these files to you when I get off my desk assignment" Andy said to him. "You really think you're going to be back in the field?" Provenza asked him. Andy took a deep breath. His therapy has been going well and he almost has his full range of motion back in his left shoulder. "Yeah, I do" Andy said to him, shortly. "Hmm" Provenza said as he shook his head at him. "I think the Commander wants you were she can keep an eye on you from now on" he added and then turned around and went back to his desk.

Andy turned his chair around and glanced in at Sharon in her office. Since her promotion to Commander she has been busy almost every day with meetings with the top brass. Andy smiled to himself. She deserved this and he was so very proud of her. "Hey! Romeo! Can you file those today?" Provenza called at him, snapping his daydreaming. Andy stood up and grabbed the file folders. As he walked over to the filing cabinets on the other side of the office, he gave a hand gesture to Provenza which made Julio and Mike laugh. "Ooooh, looks like you pissed him off, Lieutenant" Julio said to Provenza as he was sitting at his desk. "That's too bad, our desk monkey can daydream about the Commander on his own time" Provenza grumbled as he got back to working his crossword puzzle.

It was almost quitting time for the squad and Sharon was in another meeting with Assistant Chief Mason. She had sent a quick text message to Provenza letting him know that the team could go home. "Hey, everyone, the Capt., I mean Commander says that everyone should go home and enjoy your weekend" Provenza said to everyone as he read his text message. Andy sat at his desk and watched everyone else leave quickly. Provenza walked over to Andy. "So, any plans tomorrow?" he asked Andy. Andy sat back and crossed his arms. "Why?" he asked his skeptical about his question. "Do you have more filing for me to do?" Andy said. "Wow, Flynn, I was trying to be nice by asking if you had plans, but if you don't want to share" Provenza started to say to Andy and then Andy interrupted him. "Sorry, I guess I'm just frustrated that's all" Andy said to him.

"It's just I'm very proud of Sharon, for finally getting her promotion that she deserved all those years ago when she took over us, but a part of me misses her since she's always busy with meetings and other things" Andy said to him as Provenza looked at him. Andy shook his head and let out a deep sigh. "Go, I don't want to hold you up as I know you have plans with Patrice tonight" Andy said waiving him off. "You know, I'm not an expert on relationships but perhaps you two should talk" Provenza said to him but stopped as he heard Sharon walking into the office. Andy and Provenza looked at Sharon as she entered, carrying stacks of paperwork with her. Andy stood up and walked over to Sharon. "Here, let me get that for you" he said to her as he opened her office door. "Thank you" she said to him as she walked over to her desk and placed the paperwork on top.

"I'll see you on Monday" Provenza said to Andy and Andy nodded. "Good night Commander!" Provenza said to Sharon as he walked out of the office. Andy turned his attention to Sharon who was now seated at her desk. "So, what's all of the paperwork for?" Andy asked Sharon as he took a seat in front of her desk. "Assistant Chief Mason would like me to go over all of these new acquisitions and see what Major Crimes could use" Sharon said to Andy as she started to look over the papers. "Oh, so we are getting new stuff?" Andy asked her. "Yes, we are getting some new technology items that I want Mike to look over and see what we can use, what would be practical and such for us" Sharon said as she placed those papers to the side. She then looked up at Andy. "How are you doing?" she asked him. "I'm fine" Andy answered her. "And your shoulder? How's that doing?" Sharon asked him. "Good, I'm almost back at my full range of motion" Andy said as he watched her shuffle papers around her desk.

"That's good" Sharon said as she moved papers around and placed them in separate piles. Andy waited patiently for Sharon to be done as he sat there watching her. The room was silent for a couple of minutes before Andy spoke again. "What are your plans tomorrow?" he asked her. Sharon looked up at Andy and leaned back in her chair. "Well, I think we should open a bank account for Matthew. I was going to do that with him tomorrow morning" Sharon said to him. "Oh, uh do you want me to go with you two?" Andy asked her. "I mean, clearly I should also be on that account with him too" he snapped before she could answer him. "What's that supposed to mean?" Sharon said to him. Before he could answer her she started to speak again. "Do you think I don't want you on the account?" she said. "No, that's not it at all. It's just" Andy said as he took a deep breath. "I've been cooped up in this office for the past three weeks, on desk duty, doing nothing but filing paperwork for Provenza and the rest of the team and I guess I'm just frustrated!" Andy continued.

Sharon watched him as he shifted in his chair. "You're busy with your new promotion and I feel like you don't need me anymore" Andy said to her. Sharon shook her head. "Andy, of course I need you. I'm sorry that you've been feeling that way, it's just that with this new promotion, comes new responsibilities and Assistant Chief Mason expects great things to come by it" Sharon sat there, explaining to Andy. "Yeah, yeah, Mason" he grumbled and Sharon smiled at him. "Andy, do you think I like having one of my Lieutenants on desk duty until he's cleared by the doctor, again?" Sharon asked him. Andy looked at her and lowered his head. "No" he said, simply.

Sharon stood up from her desk and walked over to stand in front of Andy. "I'm sorry I didn't discuss the plan of opening a bank account for Matthew with you, of course I want you on the account with us" she said to him as she touched his right shoulder. "What time is your physical therapy session tomorrow?" she asked him as he stood up. "Early, 8 am" he said to her as he walked over to her desk and grabbed her bag, holding it open for her to put whatever she was going to bring home with her. "The bank opens at 9 tomorrow, we can either wait for you to come home and we can go together or you can meet us at the bank when you are finished" Sharon said as she placed some papers and folders inside the bag and zipped it up.

"I'm sorry you've been feeling neglected, Andy" she said to him, grabbing his hand as they walked out of her office. He shook his head. "It's not that" he said, almost pouting, as they made their way towards the elevators. "I'm just very proud of you Sharon, and sometimes I don't know how to respond to that and it comes out in anger, a little bit" he said to her as he pushed the button for the elevator. He looked into her eyes as they waited. She rubbed his back in an almost reassuring gesture. "I get it" she said as she gave him a little smile as the doors opened and they stepped inside. They rode down to the parking garage and headed to their car.

Andy opened the door for Sharon, but before she sat inside the car, she placed her hand on his cheek and leaned up on her tip toes and kissed him. He was caught off-guard, his lips parted and she deepened their kiss. He held her there in the parking lot as she kissed him. When they finally broke apart after having to catch their breaths, he smiled at her. She smiled back and sat in the car. He made sure she was all set before he closed her door and went around to the driver's side. Truth be told he was feeling a little neglected these past three weeks. Sharon was always busy during the day and when they went home, she always seemed busy there too with whatever she brought home from work and also with helping Matthew out with his homework.

Sharon watched Andy as he sat in the driver's seat before he started the car. He seemed to be deep in thought and she reached for his right hand. "Everything okay?" she asked him. Andy turned his head towards Sharon to look at her. Andy nodded and then started the car. He drove them over to Matthew's school and they both walked inside the school to pick him up. "Hey Matthew!" Andy said to the kid as he ran over to them where they waited in the hallway. Matthew gave Andy a hug, which was not unusual for him to do, since Andy had gotten shot. Sharon watched the two of them exchange hugs and then Matthew went over to Sharon and gave her a hug there as well.

Just then, another kid came out of the school room and was walking towards where they were located. "You really are a baby, Matthew!" the kid shouted as he walked past them. Matthew watched the kid as he walked down the hallway and disappeared into the bathroom. Andy and Sharon both looked at each other. "What's that all about?" Andy asked Matthew as Matthew picked up his backpack. "Nothing" Matthew said quietly as the three of them left the hallway and headed to the doors. "Who was that kid?" Sharon asked Matthew but he didn't answer her. Sharon gave Andy a look, that meant that she wanted to find out what happened, but Andy stopped her. "Let's go home, maybe he'll tell us when he's ready" Andy said to Sharon as he touched her arm. Sharon agreed, reluctantly and they made their way to the car.

Matthew climbed in the back seat and got himself settled in. Sharon closed his door and then sat down in the front seat as Andy got back into the driver's seat. "So, what do you want to have for dinner tonight?" Andy said to Matthew as he pulled the car out of the parking lot. Matthew didn't answer him. Sharon looked at Andy and then turned around to look at Matthew. Matthew was staring out the window and his head was leaned back against the head rest. Sharon faced forward as Andy drove. "There's some nice tilapia filets I bought yesterday, we could have those and I could make Matthew mac and cheese" Sharon said to Andy as he turned down the street to pick up Moxie at the doggie day care place.

Matthew's eyes perked up when he heard Sharon say mac and cheese but he quickly turned back to look out the window. He didn't want to let his parents know what was bothering him yet. Andy parked the car and got out. He went inside the place to pick up Moxie, giving Sharon and Matthew some alone time together. "So, Matthew, what's going on?" Sharon said to Matthew but got no response from him. She shifted in her seat to face him. Matthew was still staring out the window. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" Sharon asked him. Matthew just sat there in silence looking down at his hands. "We've been through a lot together, haven't we?" Sharon said to him as she watched him sit there in silence. "You can tell me or Dad what's bothering you, we won't think it's silly, or stupid. We're here to help you, Matthew" Sharon said to him, still no reaction from Matthew.

Sharon turned around to face the front of the car. Matthew listened to what she had to say. How could he tell his now parents that the kid that had called him a baby had also told him that they didn't have important enough jobs and that everybody hates the police for what they do to people. Matthew sat there and waited. Andy opened the back door and Moxie jumped in the seat next to Matthew. He sat down next to Matthew and licked his face. Matthew turned his head and laughed as Moxie continued to lick his face until Matthew started to pet him. "Well, at least he can still laugh" Andy said to Sharon as he got back behind the steering wheel and drove them home. Sharon grabbed Andy's right hand and held it as he drove.

When they arrived home, Matthew ran ahead with Moxie and was playing with him in the backyard. Sharon waited for Andy to get out of the car and they walked hand in hand down the path to the house. Sharon watched Matthew play with Moxie as Andy opened the back door to the house. "Let him play for a little bit, maybe it will help him with whatever it is that's going on" Andy said to Sharon as she stood there and continued to watch Matthew. She turned around and was led inside the house by Andy. "I'll get dinner ready for us, you can go change into something more comfortable" he said to her as he took the ingredients out of the refrigerator and placed them on the counter next to the sink. He had his back towards her and she walked over to him and placed her arms around his waist. She laid her head against his back and closed her eyes.

Andy's earlier outburst in the office did not come as a surprise to Sharon. She knew that the past few days were trying for him since he's been on desk duty. She knew that he missed being in the field and hoped by next week, the doctor would clear him for both of their sakes so that he could rejoin the rest of the team if they caught a case. Although, she would have to admit, she felt a little more at ease these past couple of weeks, knowing that he was at his desk and not chasing after some murderer or someone else for that matter. She could tell in his eyes that he wanted to be out there when they caught that serial rapist last week. She asked him that night when they closed the case if he was okay and his response was a simple 'fine'.

"Sharon?" Andy said interrupting her thoughts, bringing her back to the present. She moved her head and took a step back from him as he turned around to face her. "Sorry, I, uh" Sharon started to say to him and he looked at her. "I'll be right back" she finally said to him and then walked away. Andy let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding as he watched her retreat upstairs. He then turned his attention to making dinner when he saw Matthew and Moxie both run into the house. "Hey! Slow down" he said to them as they made their way in to the kitchen.

As Andy turned back around to face Matthew and Moxie, he noticed that both of them were covered in mud. Well, it was more like caked in mud. "What happened?" Andy said to Matthew as he stood there. "Um, we were playing in the backyard" Matthew said as he shrugged his shoulders. Matthew started to walk away and Moxie started to follow him. "Wait! Don't go anywhere" Andy said as he placed the fish fillets in a glass cooking dish. He then washed his hands and walked over to Matthew and Moxie. "Take your shoes off before your mother has a fit with you tracking mud all over the house" Andy said to him and Matthew took off his shoes.

Andy then grabbed a towel and walked over to where Moxie was standing and wiped his paws off as best he could. "You both are going to need baths tonight" Andy said, kneeling down, as he looked at Matthew while Moxie continued to pant. "Want to tell me what happened at school today?" Andy asked Matthew as he took the towel and wiped Matthew's face and arms with it to get the mud off of him. Matthew became silent again and Andy stopped what he was doing. They were eye level with each other and Matthew looked at him directly. "At recess we were talking about what our parents do for work and I said that you both were police officers and were very important" Matthew finally said to Andy as he continued to wipe off his arms. "And then Luke said that you and mom don't have important enough jobs and that everybody hates the police for what they do to people. I defended you guys and then he started calling me a baby because I started to cry a little bit" Matthew stated.

Andy looked at the boy and shook his head. "Well, some people don't like the police, Matthew, but that doesn't mean that you need to cry about it when other people make fun of us" Andy said as he wiped Matthew's face. Sharon came back down, wearing one of Andy's Dodgers shirts and jeans. She overheard the conversation going on in the kitchen. Sharon didn't want to disturb them but Moxie came over to her and gave her position away. Andy looked over at Sharon who entered the kitchen. Andy cleaned Matthew up as best he could as he stood back up. "Matthew, why don't you go upstairs and change your clothes" Sharon said to him and Matthew ran upstairs, with Moxie following him. "Come back down when you are done!" she called out to him.

Sharon then made her way over to where Andy was standing, still holding the towel he used. "So, he defended our honor apparently and was called a baby for it" Andy told Sharon as she took the towel from him and threw it in the laundry basket located in the mud room. "Is that why he didn't want to talk earlier?" Sharon asked as she came back in to the kitchen. Andy washed his hands and went back to preparing dinner. "I guess so" he said as he shrugged his shoulders. "So, have you heard from Rusty today?" Andy asked her, wanting to change the subject. "Yes, he said that Gus wants to speak to him about something important and that he wouldn't be home for dinner tonight" Sharon said as she made a salad for them to eat.

Andy placed the fish in the oven and set the timer for it. He then went to the pantry and pulled out a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese to make for Matthew. When dinner was ready, the three of them sat down at the kitchen table and ate. Matthew quickly ate his macaroni and cheese at the table. "Slow down buddy!" Andy said to him as he ate. "Can I be excused?" Matthew asked both of them as they sat there. Andy glanced at Sharon who nodded to Matthew. Matthew got up from the table and brought his dish to the sink. He then made his way to the family room where he turned the TV on.

"I thought that book I had gotten him would have helped with this" Sharon said to Andy as she turned back to him. "I think it has, he just needs to know, no matter how many times we tell him, that there's going to be people in the world that don't like what we do and criticize our jobs" Andy said to her as he continued to eat. "Yes, but from what you said, this was a kid in his class saying that, not some adult that he doesn't know" Sharon said to him. "How was it with Emily and Ricky growing up?" Andy asked her as he placed his fork down on his plate. Sharon looked up at him with a questionable look. Andy shrugged his shoulders. "They grew up knowing their mom was a cop, how did they cope with it?" he said to her. "Well, that's why I took the job with IA and FID, so that it wasn't as dangerous as it was being on the streets when I was a detective" Sharon said to him.

"They understood at a young age that their mother had an important job to do as a police officer" Sharon added as she started to clean up the table. "Yeah, but how did they understand that? I don't think Nicole or Charlie really understood what I did every day since I really wasn't there for them" Andy said as he brought the plates to the sink. Sharon rubbed Andy's back as he placed the plates in the sink and started to run the water to rinse them. "I think Rusty is still learning as well" Sharon said. "Sometimes I think he's still awestruck at how amazing his mom is as a police officer" Andy said to her as he pulled her in for a kiss.

Later that evening, Matthew was getting ready for bed after his bath, and Sharon walked in to his room. "Are you ready for bed?" Sharon asked as she sat down on the corner of his bed. "Yeah, I'm just putting away my toys" Matthew said as he cleaned up his room a little bit from playing earlier. "Tomorrow morning we are going to the bank to open a bank account for you" Sharon said to him as she watched him placed his toys in the plastic containers. Matthew stopped and walked over to where Sharon was sitting. "Why do I need that?" he asked her as he climbed into his bed. "Well, to save money for when you're older" Sharon said as she grabbed a book to read to him.

Sharon kissed Matthew on the forehead after reading to him and tucking him in for bed. Andy stood at the doorway and watched her. He needed to tell her how amazing he thought she was and that he was stupid for acting out in her office earlier. She walked over to him and smiled as she passed him up and headed for their bedroom. Andy turned around and looked at Matthew. "Good night buddy" he whispered to him and then closed the door behind him. Andy followed Sharon to their bedroom and closed the door.

He walked up behind her in their bathroom as she was washing her face and wrapped his arms around her waist. He nuzzled into her neck and placed soft kisses there. Sharon smiled as she watched Andy in the mirror. "What's gotten in to you?" she asked him as she turned around in his arms. "I need to apologize for my behavior earlier in your office" he simply said to her as he continued to kiss her. She relaxed in his embrace. "I know that you being promoted to Commander means you have certain responsibilities now than before and I guess I'm having a hard time sharing you with other people while we are at work, but I'm trying to work on that" Andy whispered in her ear as he slowly moved Sharon towards their bed. Sharon hummed as Andy moved her.

"Well, I can help you in that by setting aside some time with you, alone, do you think that would help?" Sharon whispered as Andy laid her down on the bed. "It couldn't hurt" Andy said to her as he leaned over her and kissed her.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thanks everyone for the warm welcome back. I really appreciate it. Some of you really love my stories and I am totally grateful for that. It helps get everyone through this long hiatus we are facing. Oh, and to the "guest" reviewer for Chapter 1 stating that "The incessant "said to him/hers" are exhausting. Read some better-written fanfic, you'll see what I'm talking about", if you don't like my writing, then don't read my stories. I understand that it's a review, but this is how I write, and that's how my stories go, and it's not going to change.

Chapter 2

The next morning Andy woke up early for his physical therapy appointment. He disentangled himself from Sharon, careful not to wake her, and made his way into the bathroom. Sharon rolled over and reached her hand out for Andy but only grabbed the bedsheet. She opened her eyes and saw that Andy was no longer in their bed. She moved slightly on the bed and heard the water running in the shower. She glanced over at the clock and saw it was six o'clock in the morning.

She decided to get out of bed and headed towards the bathroom to join Andy in the shower. As she opened the bathroom door, she could still hear the water running. She quickly removed her clothes and opened the glass door and stepped inside behind Andy. Andy smiled as she ran her hands up his chest and he turned around. "I didn't mean to wake you this early" he whispered to her and they showered together.

Later on, Andy was downstairs in the kitchen eating a bagel when Sharon came down to join him. She fixed herself a bagel as well and then sat down at the kitchen table. "I'm going to ask Corey if I can return to active duty this morning" Andy said as she sat down. "Andy, I don't want you to push yourself into returning prematurely" Sharon said as she took a bite of her bagel.

Andy shook his head. "I'm not returning prematurely. I feel fine, great even, ready to take on anything" he said. Sharon looked at him as he was moving his left shoulder around. "See?" he said and then grimaced when he felt a slight twinge. "Are you okay?" Sharon said as she reached over and placed her hand on his left shoulder. "I'm fine" Andy mumbled as he didn't want to show her defeat. Sharon shook her head at him. "You're so stubborn" she whispered to herself.

After Andy left for his physical therapy appointment, Sharon went back upstairs to get Matthew up and ready for the day. "Is Dad coming with us to the bank?" he asked as he grabbed his clothes that he wanted to wear out of his drawers. Sharon was in his room, grabbing the laundry basket from his closet. "He's going to meet us there after his physical therapy session this morning" Sharon said to him as he made his way down the hall to the bathroom. Sharon then took his laundry basket downstairs and started a load of wash.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Andy arrived for his session with Corey. "So, how are we doing this morning, Lieutenant?" he asked him. "Um, fine, I think I'm ready to get back in to the field" Andy said to him as Corey walked over to where he kept the balance ball and brought it over to where Andy was sitting. "Really? Well, let's measure your range of motion right now" Corey said as he took out the plastic measuring device and had Andy raise his left arm as far back as he could.

"170, not bad. I think that's about as much as we are going to get from flexing this shoulder of yours" Corey said as he helped Andy move his shoulder and arm back down to his side. Andy closed his eyes and grimaced when Corey moved his arm down. "Any pain or discomfort with that motion?" he asked him, already knowing the answer as he saw Andy's face. "A little" Andy said, wanting to be honest.

"Let's compare your right shoulder and see what range we are at with that one" Corey said as he had Andy move his right arm the same position and he measured it. "180, no doubt you have full range of motion in that shoulder" Corey said as he placed the plastic measuring device back down on the table Andy was sitting on.

"So, do you think I can get back in to the field soon, like today perhaps?" Andy asked him as Corey started to work on his left shoulder. "I'll see what I can do, but that release is going to have to come from your doctor. I can certainly tell her that you are at your peak for range of motion in your left shoulder" Corey said as Andy sat there. "I appreciate anything you can do to get me back in the field again" Andy said to him as Corey handed him the balance ball to start his exercises.

Back home, Matthew was having breakfast and Sharon was sitting in the kitchen with him. "So, I thought we would have a little talk before heading out this morning" Sharon said as Matthew ate his cereal. He stopped and got a worried look on his face when Sharon said that. "About what?" Matthew asked her. "Well, I'd like to know what happened at school and why that kid called you a baby when he passed us in the hallway yesterday" Sharon said to him but before he could answer her, she spoke again. "And, before you protest, I want to know because I'm your mom and I care about you" she added. Matthew took a deep breath. "Fine" he said to her as he played with his cereal.

Matthew told her what had happened yesterday at school. "Dad told me that it's okay if people don't like your jobs or they don't understand your jobs as police officers" Matthew said. "Well, he would be right about that" Sharon said to him and smiled, brushing a piece of hair away from his eyes. "Do you remember that book I read to you about being a sheepdog and that's what the police are, sheepdogs that protect the sheep from the wolves" Sharon asked Matthew as he swirled his spoon in his cereal bowl. "Yes" Matthew said.

"Okay, well you shouldn't be worrying what Luke thinks or if he makes fun of our jobs" Sharon said to him as he looked at her. "You don't have to defend dad's and my honor as the police, what you should concentrate on are your grades in school so that you can play baseball this summer when we sign you up" Sharon said and that brought a smile to Matthew's face.

"Really? You and Dad are going to let me play baseball this summer?" Matthew asked with excitement in his eyes. "Well, we talked about it and thought it would be a good idea to sign you up for a summer league at the park district. The registration is open soon for it, but I want you to keep getting good grades in your classes" Sharon said to him as he finished his breakfast. "I will" Matthew said to her.

After Matthew was finished with his breakfast, Sharon made sure that they had all paperwork they needed to open a bank account for him. Once they had all of the paperwork needed, Sharon and Matthew got in to Sharon's car and she drove them over to the National Bank in the Los Feliz neighborhood, not too far from their home.

They arrived when the bank opened at nine o'clock and proceeded to speak with a personal banker at the branch. Meanwhile, Andy left his therapy session a little more optimistic. His therapist spoke to his doctor while Andy was still there, and baring any new obstacles, she would be releasing Andy from restricted desk duty to field work on Monday. She even said that she would fax over the release order to the Major Crimes division so that Andy would have it there when they all returned to work Monday morning.

Andy pulled into the parking lot of the bank and found a spot near Sharon's car. He pulled out his phone and texted her that he had just arrived in the parking lot. Sharon responded to his text message. Andy looks up as he got out of his car and saw a car pull up to the front of the bank and four guys get out of the vehicle, leaving one behind, and they entered the bank.

Andy stopped and watched what was happening. 'This is a bank robbery' he thought to himself as he made his way over to the getaway car and the driver in that car. He pulled out his phone and quickly texted Sharon to tell her, and then he pulled out his off-duty weapon from his ankle holster and walked up to the car. "Freeze, asshole! LAPD. Let me see your hands!" he shouted to the guy in the driver's seat.

Meanwhile, inside the bank, the four guys walked in and pulled out their weapons. "This is a robbery!" one of the men yelled out and a couple of people in line dropped to the ground. Sharon and Matthew were sitting in an office on the side of the room and she turned around to see what the commotion was. She looked down at her phone as saw the text message from Andy. She then pulled Matthew to the side with her and looked at the personal banker with them. "Is there a silent alarm in here?" she asked the banker. "No, they are only at the teller counters, but I know one of the tellers already activated it because of that small blue light at the back of the room" the banker whispered to Sharon.

Sharon turned to Matthew. "Now, no matter what happens here, don't speak to anyone and don't tell them I'm a police officer, got it?!" she told Matthew and he nodded. One of the robbers walked into the room they were in and pointed his gun at them. "Go on, move to the inside where the others are" he said to them. Sharon, Matthew, and the personal banker did as they were told and exited to the front of the bank where other people were located.

Outside the bank, the driver of the car placed his hands outside the driver's side window and Andy moved forward. "Don't move idiot" Andy said as he opened the vehicle's door and pulled the guy out. He slammed him up against the car and placed handcuffs on him.

"What are you and your friends doing here, huh?" he asked him but the guy didn't say anything to him. "Fine, you have the right to remain silent" Andy said to him and then pulled out his phone and started dialing 911. "911, what is your emergency?" the operator said on the other line. "This is Lieutenant Flynn, LAPD, I believe there's a bank robbery in progress at the National Bank branch located on the corner of Hilhurst and Franklin. There is an off-duty LAPD Commander inside of the bank" Andy explained to the operator. "Okay, Lieutenant, we do have a silent alarm from the branch and are dispatching responding units to the scene as we speak" the operator informed Andy.

Andy then hung up his phone and dialed Provenza's number. It rang a couple of times. "Come on, come on, pick up your phone!" Andy gritted through his teeth as he held onto the driver. "Flynn, this better be good for a Saturday morning call" Provenza said on the other end of the phone. "Listen, Sharon and Matthew are inside the National Bank branch, four guys just rushed in to rob it, I got the driver in cuffs out here with me" Andy said to him.

"Flynn! What the hell are you doing? You're still on desk duty!" Provenza said as he fumbled getting out of his chair and grabbing his keys. "Not today" Andy stated. "Where's the bank located?" Provenza said as he walked over to Patrice and wrote down information on a note and handed it to her. He then turned around, grabbed his keys, and headed out the door. "Hilhurst and Franklin. Look, I already called it in and patrol is just pulling up now. I got to go" Andy said as he hung up his phone. "Please don't do anything stupid, Flynn" Provenza mumbled but realized Andy had already hung up.

A patrol car pulled up to the scene and two patrol officers got out of the car and ran over to where Andy was standing with the driver. "Here, take this dirt bag and bring him down to holding for Major Crimes" Andy said to the patrol officers and they did as they were told.

Meanwhile, five other squad cars and the Special Operations Bureau tactical team arrived on the scene. Chief Howard exited his vehicle and walked over to where Andy was standing. "Lieutenant? What are you doing here?" he asked him. Andy turned around and saw it was Fritz. "I was supposed to meet Sharon and Matthew here, they are inside but I arrived later from my appointment this morning. By the time I got here I saw four men rush into the bank and one stayed in the car" Andy said really fast, catching his breath in the process. Chief Howard placed his hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Easy Andy, slow down!" he told him. "I texted Sharon about the bank robbery but she didn't respond" Andy said.

"Where's the driver at now?" Chief Howard asked Andy. "Patrol took him down to holding for Major Crimes" Andy said as he watched Fritz look over the scene. "Major Crimes? Your division is not handling this case, you're too close to it. SOB is taking over" Chief Howard stated to Andy as they both walked over to the command center that was just brought in. "No, you can't do that!" Andy said, excitedly to him.

"Sharon and Matthew are inside, right?" Chief Howard asked. Andy nodded. "That's why you are too close to this" Chief Howard said as he walked inside the command center. Andy followed him inside and the door closed behind him. "What would you do if Brenda was inside the bank?" Andy said, his eyes pleading to him. Chief Howard looked at Andy.

"I would probably do the same thing that you're doing now" he stated to Andy. "But you're not cleared for field duty yet" Chief Howard said and Andy lowered his head. "You can stay in here" he told Andy and then went to put a pair of headphones and watched the monitors to see what his officers were seeing. Andy stood back and watched as well, praying that Sharon and Matthew were safe.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thanks again for the great reviews people! Fasten your seat belts...

Chapter 3

Inside the bank, the customers sat along the wall as they watched the group of four men walk around the bank. Sharon was sitting on the floor with Matthew next to her. "Mom? Where's Dad?" he whispered to her as she watched the men walk around. "He's outside" she whispered back to him and nodded. "Hey! No talking, got it?!" one of the men yelled in Matthew's face. Matthew was startled by this and clung to Sharon's arm. Sharon looked at the man in front of her. "He's just a boy" Sharon said calmly to the man and he stared at her. Sharon stared right back until another man with the robbers spoke up. She knew she had to get Matthew and them out of here, as quickly as possible.

"Leo! Leave them alone" the other man said and the man that was in front of Sharon walked away. The other man was standing behind the counter with another robber and they were taking the money out of the safes. The man that went by the name Leo, walked over to one of the windows and peeked outside. "Remember what I said to you" Sharon whispered to Matthew and he nodded.

"Oh shit!" he said out loud. "Hey Rico! We've got company!" Leo said to the guy behind the counter. Rico looked up at him. "What?" he asked. "The police are outside, they got some huge van outside too" Leo said to him. Sharon overheard this and knew that the van Leo was speaking about had to have been the command center, which told her that Special Operations Bureau was outside. She just hoped Andy was cooperating with Chief Howard and not giving him a hard time. "Who set off the alarm?" Rico said to the bank tellers as he walked over to them. No one answered him.

Leo then walked over to another man who was sitting down in the group and pulled him up by the arm. He was wearing a name tag. "Did you set the alarm off, John?" Leo asked and John frantically shook his head no. Leo then pushed him back towards the ground and kept looking at the other people sitting there.

Meanwhile, Provenza and the rest of the Major Crimes squad pulled up to the scene. Provenza texted Andy and Andy stated that he was in the command center. Provenza told everyone else to stay put as he walked inside the command center. When he opened the door, he flashed his badge to the officer standing right there and he made his way inside. Chief Howard turned around and saw Provenza walk in. He then glanced at Andy who looked up to see his friend enter. Provenza took a look around at all of the monitors and shook his head. "Flynn, any word yet from the Commander?" Provenza asked Andy and he shook his head. "No, I don't know what's going on in there. I just hope they're all right" Andy said as he glanced over at Chief Howard.

"Lieutenant, what is your squad doing here?" Chief Howard asked Provenza. "Excuse me sir, but the incident commander called and informed me of the situation that was going down here at the bank, involving my Commander so naturally, her squad would come down here to assist" Provenza said to Chief Howard, very diplomatically.

Chief Howard looked back at him, skeptically. "Incident commander, I never called Major Crimes to come out here" Chief Howard said to him. "That's right because you weren't the first person on the scene" Provenza said knowing that this was going to blow into an argument. "Listen here, Lieutenant, I am in charge of this operation. Your squad can stay but if you get in SOB's way, I'm not going to be responsible for what happens" Chief Howard said to Provenza as he glanced over at Andy.

"We need to know what's going on inside the bank" Andy said to them before the argument could escalate. "We're working on that right now. My people are in position" Chief Howard said as he pointed to the monitors. A picture of the inside of the bank came online along with audio. "We just tapped in to their closed circuit television" Chief Howard added as Andy searched the screen to look for Sharon and Matthew. He saw them as they sat on the ground in front of the tellers with everyone else in the bank. Andy's heart stopped when he saw what happened next.

Inside the bank, the robbers started to get nervous. Sharon watched them closely to see what their behavior was so that, maybe, she could gain an advantage somehow. As Rico and Leo spoke to one another, Sharon had shifted as she sat on the ground. This had caught Leo's attention and he walked over to where Sharon was sitting and stuck his gun into her face. "I thought I told you not to move!" Leo sneered at Sharon. "My leg was falling asleep and I had to move it" Sharon calmly stated to him as she stared right at him. "Leo! I thought I told you to leave her alone" Rico said to him. Leo looked back at where Rico was standing. "I don't trust her" he said as he glared back at Sharon and smiled. Leo then walked away.

Matthew clung to his mother's arm even more so than before. Sharon placed her arm around him to comfort him. "It's going to be okay. I need you to be brave" she whispered to him as she looked up at the robbers. "Look, how are we going to get out of here?" Leo said to Rico as the other two men joined them. "I don't know yet!" Rico snapped back at Leo. "We're done! It's not going to end well in here if they come inside" another guy said to them. "Calm down, Mac. I don't need you going off the deep end with Leo here" Rico stated to the other guy.

Back in the command center, Andy was holding his breath as he watched what had unfolded on the screen. "We've got to get them out of there" Andy said to Chief Howard as they looked at the monitors. "If we go in now, there's no telling how many of the hostages would make it out alive" Chief Howard said. "It looks like that guy is in charge" he said as he pointed to Rico on the monitor.

Andy clenched his fist. "We need to establish a line of communication into the bank" Chief Howard said. "You actually want to negotiate with these dirt bags?" Andy asked him in disbelief. "I was a hostage negotiator when I worked for the FBI" Chief Howard told him. "Get me a line into the bank" Chief Howard turned his attention to another officer as he took a deep breath.

Andy and Provenza both looked at each other and Provenza laid his hand on Andy's shoulder. "They don't know that she's a cop" Andy said reminding Chief Howard. "I know that, I'm not going to blow her cover, Andy" Chief Howard said as the officer came back with the portable phone line. "Dial the number" he said to the officer and the officer did that. The phone was ringing inside the bank as they watched the monitors.

Sharon looked up as she heard the bank phone ringing. "Who would be calling here?" Mac said to the group. "It's the cops" Leo stated. "Standard procedure when dealing with hostages" Rico said as he answered the phone. "Who is this?" he said. "This is Chief Howard with the LAPD, with whom am I speaking to?" Chief Howard asked.

"You can call me Rico" Rico said back. "Okay Rico, we have the bank surrounded as you can tell" Chief Howard said. "Yeah, I noticed that" Rico stated. "Good, so if you surrender now, it will look good for you and your men in front of a judge" Chief Howard said. Provenza and Andy both looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"I need to get in there somehow" Andy said to Provenza as they watched what was occurring in the command center. Provenza looked at Andy and shook his head. "How are you expecting to do that, Flynn?" Provenza said as he placed both of his hands on the back of his head and moved them downward. "Look, I know Fritz already told you, and this is the one thing I can agree on. You are too close to this" he added as he saw the look of desperation in Andy's eyes.

As Rico spoke on the phone, Sharon watched the other men continue to walk around the bank. "Excuse me" she heard someone whisper to her from two people down the row. Sharon quickly glanced at the direction and saw a woman sitting there. "You're with the police, aren't you?" the woman whispered to Sharon and her eyes went wide.

At that moment Sharon glanced back to see where the other men were at to make sure they were not able to hear that. Sharon didn't answer her. "What's going on? Why aren't we being rescued?" the man sitting next to Sharon whispered. Sharon knew things could get ugly if the robbers found out that she was a police officer and she didn't want Matthew to witness that if it did. "They're working on it" Sharon whispered to the two people and quickly saw Leo coming over to them.

"I thought I told you to shut up!" Leo said to Sharon and pulled her up from her sitting position. Matthew grabbed onto Leo's arm to stop him but Sharon turned to him and shook her head. Sharon stood up and faced Leo. The man was a little taller than her. He got right into her face and she could smell his bad breath as he spoke to her. Leo then grabbed Sharon's purse and started rifling through it. He pulled out a business card that belonged to Sharon.

"What's this?" Leo said to her. Sharon didn't say anything. "Are you a cop?" he asked her, loudly enough for Rico to hear. Leo then held up her business card and showed Rico. "Listen, Chief Howard of the LAPD, looks like we have one of yours inside here with us" Rico said over the phone. "Dammit Sharon" Andy muttered under his breath as he watched the monitors.

"Frisk her!" Rico yelled out so that Chief Howard could hear over the phone and Rico hung up. Leo smiled and turned back towards Sharon. Andy watched in disgust as Leo started to place his hands on Sharon's body. "Don't touch me" Sharon said to him, gritting her teeth. "What are you going to do about it?" Leo said to her. Sharon realized it would not be a smart move on her behalf if she tried to overpower Leo right there. There were too many variables and she needed to keep Matthew safe.

"Look, why don't you let everybody inside go, and you can keep me here with you" Sharon said out loud to Rico. "And why should we do that?" Rico asked her as he stood up. "Because, I'm the best bargaining chip you have right now of getting out of here" Sharon said to him. She needed to distract the men so that Matthew could escape. She also needed to get the rest of the people out of the bank, safely and she thought that was the way to do it.

"What the hell is she doing?" Chief Howard stated to Andy, Provenza, and the rest of the officers inside the command center van. "She's trying to get everyone out of there, alive" Andy answered him as he sat down on the chair next to where he was standing. He rubbed his face with his hand. "I hope you know what you're doing" Andy muttered to himself.

"She's sacrificing herself, for the safety of others" Provenza stated to Chief Howard as he looked at the monitor. "Call them back and see if you can speak to Sharon somehow" Andy suggested. If he could possibly speak to her, when Chief Howard called back, maybe he could figure out what she's doing. Andy looked at the monitor again. "Where's Matthew?" he said as he searched the screen.

Matthew didn't want to leave his mom but she had told him before they were led out to the main area that she wanted him to somehow get outside and find Andy. That was why he had asked her where he was when they sat down with the other people. Sharon had pointed out the back exit to Matthew while they were still in the office. 'I want you to use the back exit, Matthew and the police officers outside will help you' Sharon had told him. No one had seen him back away as they were too pre-occupied with Sharon at the moment. Even the other people didn't notice Matthew run off.

"Sir, the back door of the bank is opening" an officer said over the radio. They switched over to the body camera of that officer and Andy saw Matthew. As the back door opened, Matthew walked outside and saw many police officers there. One of the officers ran over to Matthew and pulled him to the side.

"My name is Matthew Flynn, my mom and dad work for you" he told the officer as he caught his breath. The officer then checked him over to make sure he was okay. Andy rushed out of the command center van and ran over to where the officer was with Matthew. "Matthew!" Andy yelled as he got closer. "Dad!" Matthew called out to him. The officer met Andy half way and Matthew hugged Andy as he dropped to his knees.

"Mommy told me to escape when she distracted the bad guys" Matthew told Andy. Andy looked at him and wiped his tears. "You need to save her, Dad" Matthew pleaded to him. "I'm working on that" he said as he stood back up. "Did she say anything to you?" Andy asked him as they walked back to the command center van. Matthew shook his head no.

Andy took a deep breath and motioned for Julio to come over to them. Julio ran over to them. "Sir?" Julio said. "I need you to take Matthew home" Andy started to say. "NO! I want to stay here with you" Matthew pleaded to Andy. "It's too dangerous here for you" Andy said to him. Matthew stood there, looking at Andy. "Ah, Lieutenant, I can keep him over here with the rest of us. We'll protect him, besides he can sit in the car" Julio said to Andy. Against his better judgement, Andy agreed and Julio took Matthew over to the other side.

The phone in the bank rang again as Andy stepped back into the command center van. Provenza looked at him as he came back. He was worried about his blood pressure and the added stress this was taking on his friend. "Julio's watching Matthew. He didn't want to leave" Andy said to him as he watched the monitors.

They saw Rico walk back over to the phone and answered it. "Your cop here has an interesting proposal for us" Rico started to say over the phone. "Rico, is there any chance I could speak to her over the phone" Chief Howard asked him as they watched and waited. Rico walked over to where Sharon was standing and handed her the phone.

Chief Howard handed the phone to Andy as Sharon started to speak into it. "Sharon" Andy said, barely above a whisper. Sharon knew it was Andy on the other end of the phone and wanted to tell him so many things right then but she knew she couldn't. "Sharon, listen to me. Matthew is out and he's safe" Andy said to her. She let out a breath she was holding. "Good" she said to him.

"What are you doing saying you'll stay there with those robbers?" Andy asked her and wasn't expecting her to answer him. She knew that not only did they have video feed, but audio as well when Andy asked her that. "Oh, you know, we're hanging in here, sir" Sharon stated. "I'm going to get you out of there, Sharon" Andy said to her. "I know" she said and then Rico took the phone away from her.

"So, Chief Howard, I gave you the opportunity to speak with your cop here. Now I want something in return" Rico said as Andy handed the phone back over to him. "Oh yeah, what's that?" Chief Howard asked. "Well, for one thing, I would like a private plane waiting for us at the Burbank Airport and I want transportation to the airport without any repercussion" Rico stated.

"What do we get in return?" Chief Howard asked. "I let the hostages go, all but one of them, your precious cop here. She's our ticket out" Rico stated. "It's going to take me awhile to get that set up for you" Chief Howard said as he motioned for two officers to come over to him. "Get me Burbank Airport on the phone" he said as he covered the receiver with his hand.

"They're going to use her as a human shield" Andy said to Provenza. "You have one hour, otherwise I don't know what I'm going to do, but if you don't get me that, I will tell you that it will start with your cop here" Rico said and then hung up the phone.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Sorry for the delay in posting, real life seems to get in the way sometimes... The words in _italics_ are Andy's memory from the previous night. Thank you for the great reviews!

Chapter 4

Leo had Sharon sitting down on one of the chairs so that he could keep an eye on her. They had taped Sharon's wrists together so that she couldn't use her hands. "Hey, wait a minute!" Leo said as he glanced back over the other people who were sitting in front of the tellers. He then glanced at Sharon. "Where's your kid?" Leo asked her. "What kid?" Sharon said to him and Leo slapped her in the face. One of the hostages yelled "Hey!" and started to move but Leo pointed his weapon at the person. "Leo!" Rico shouted at him and then grabbed his arm.

"The kid she was with is missing" Leo said to Rico as he jerked his arm away. Rico looked at Sharon, who now had a cut on the side of her face from Leo's slap. His ring had cut her and she was bleeding. "Alright, where's the kid you were with, Commander Sharon Flynn of the LAPD?" Rico asked her as he stared at her face. She didn't say anything to him. "If he's hiding in here, I'm going to find him, and then I'm going to make sure that he sees his mommy suffer" Rico said to her, in a low voice. Sharon swallowed and stared back at Rico. "What would your husband think?" he added as he gestured to her ring on her left hand. "Does he like you being in charge?" he sneered and Sharon kept looking straight ahead. "Maybe he's LAPD as well?" he said almost quietly as he touched her face with his hand.

"Now, I'll ask you again. Where's your kid?" Rico said close to her face. Sharon looked at him. "He's outside, with the police" she said calmly. That pissed Rico off and he slammed his fist onto the table that was next to them. Andy watched the whole thing unfold as he blocked out the commotion coming from inside the van. He held his breath as he watched Sharon get slapped. He watched as Rico walked up to her and touched her face. He balled his fists at watching that sight. He needed to get her out of there. Then when Rico slammed his fist on the table, Andy jumped up.

Chief Howard saw this. "Lieutenant?" he said to Andy. "We need to get her and them out of there, now" Andy said to him. Chief Howard walked over to where Andy was now standing. "Listen, I'm giving you a courtesy by staying in here, I can have you leave and stand outside with the rest of your squad, and Matthew" Chief Howard said to him as Andy looked at him and then glanced at the monitor.

"Andy, she's not going to like it if I have to tell her that instead of rescuing you, Sharon, I had to restrain and keep an eye on your husband" Chief Howard said and that calmed Andy a little down. "I know what you're going through, remember I'm married to Brenda, and all of her stunts she pulled when she was in charge of you guys" Chief Howard said. Andy nodded. "Sorry" he murmured. Andy looked over his shoulder as Provenza came back inside.

Chief Howard then went back to figuring out the plan for rescuing Sharon and the rest of the hostages. Provenza walked over to Andy and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I haven't told any of the kids about this but I'm sure it's on the news already" Andy said to him. "You're probably right, I did see a news van out there. At this point, I think we should hold off. When she's safe and back with us, then tell them" Provenza said to him as he gave him a concerned look. "I'm fine" Andy said to him and then focused on the monitors again.

Truth be told, Andy wasn't fine at all. He was scared to death for Sharon. He needed to get her out of there, quickly and safely. Matthew needed her, her kids needed her still, and he needed her. Boy did he need her. He thought back to their conversation last night while they laid in bed together.

 _Andy was running his fingers up and down Sharon's bare back as she lay on top of him. She was exhausted from work and after the two of them made love, she rested her head on his chest. "I love you so much" he said to her, barely above a whisper._

 _Sharon hummed and smiled into his chest. She kissed him. "I love you too, Andy" she said to him as she continued to lay there with him. She turned her head so that her ear was now on his chest as she placed her hand on his left shoulder, and traced the scar from where he got shot._

" _I think we need to designate someone as a guardian for Matthew, in case something happens to the both of us" she said to Andy. Andy let out a deep sigh. "Who would you want it to be?" he asked her as he continued to run his fingers up and down her back._

" _We could ask Nicole and Dean if they would be willing to do it, the kids all go to the same school and Matthew gets along great with them" Sharon said to him as she shifted and moved closer to his face so that she was looking at him. "I think they would be honored, we can call them tomorrow and invite them over for dinner tomorrow night if they are available" Andy said to her as she moved her body over him. She smiled at him and lowered her head to kiss him._

Andy's thoughts were interrupted by movement on the monitor. Rico looked at the clock inside the bank. The hour deadline was coming up and he was getting restless waiting as he paced around the floor. He didn't want to have to deal with keeping a cop with them as he knew that if something happened to her, they would all be dead. Rico walked over to where Sharon was still sitting, across from him at another desk, being watched closely by Leo.

"It's almost time, do you think your friends at the LAPD were able to get me everything I wanted?" Rico said to Sharon as he leaned down to her. Sharon didn't answer him. He touched the cut that was on her face from when Leo had hit her. She jerked back. "Sorry about that, Leo has a stubborn streak in him. Hate to see a pretty face like yours be ruined" Rico added.

Sharon watched Rico as he stood in front of her and bent down so that he was in her face. Just then the bank phone rang and Rico answered it. "Chief Howard of the LAPD, I hope you are ready as your deadline is up" Rico said to Chief Howard over the phone. "We have a private plane waiting for you at the airport" Chief Howard said as he watched Rico on the monitor.

"Good" Rico replied. "I need to know how the hostages are doing inside" Chief Howard asked him as he motioned for an officer from SOB to come over to him. "Your hostages are fine, LAPD. What about the rest of my demands" Rico insisted as he turned around to face the windows. They had closed the blinds when they had entered the bank so that no one could see inside the building.

Chief Howard placed the phone on mute. "Do the snipers have a shot?" he asked over the radio. Andy watched what was unfolding inside and held his breath. "Negative" an officer said over the radio. Chief Howard then unmuted the call. "We will have transportation available for you in about 20 minutes" Chief Howard said to Rico. "20 minutes, sorry but that's not good enough" Rico said over the phone and nodded to Leo. Leo walked over to Sharon and grabbed her by the arm, standing her up.

"What are they doing?" Andy shouted as he watched Leo grab Sharon. "Rico, what are you doing? There's a lot of commotion in the background" Chief Howard said to him as he watched the monitor as well. The hostages were shouting and Mac stood in front of them and pointed his weapon at them. "Shut up! All of yous" he said to them.

Leo stood there and pointed his weapon at Sharon's head. Andy's heart stopped as he watched, tears started to form. "I told you, something was going to happen if my demands were not met on time and that your precious cop was going to be the first one" Rico said. "Wait! We're getting your ride to the airport, we have met your demands" Chief Howard said trying to reason with Rico.

Rico gestured to Leo who then lowered his weapon from Sharon's head and then pushed Sharon back into the chair she was sitting on. "I know you have video so you saw what was going on. I wanted you to see that in order for you to understand that I mean business" Rico said calmly to Chief Howard and then he hung up. "Who the hell is this Rico guy?" Andy said as he let out his breath he was holding and turned to Chief Howard. "I'll go grab Mike and bring him in here, we'll figure out who this guy is, Chief" Provenza said as he squeezed Andy's arm and then walked out of the command center.

"If you don't do something soon to get her out of there, safely, I'm going to go in there myself" Andy said to Chief Howard. "Look, the plan is that when the transportation arrives, we get them to release all of the hostages, which they will do except for Sharon, he's already said that" Chief Howard explained to Andy. "When that happens, my officers will move in and move all of the hostages away from the area" he added and Andy didn't like where this plan was heading. "Another team will come up when the robbers and Sharon walk out, and the snipers will take all four of them out" Chief Howard said. "And what if they kill Sharon in the process?" Andy stated.

"You got a better idea, Lieutenant?" he said to Andy. Andy thought for a second. "I'll be their driver to the airport, set up a team there and when they get out to get on the plane, I'll grab Sharon and your team takes out the robbers" Andy suggested to him. "So we just let them walk out with Sharon as a hostage?" Chief Howard asked as he shook his head. "Too many things can go wrong with that scenario" he added. Andy walked up to him. "Too many things can go wrong with this scenario you've come up with!" Andy said and pointed his finger at Fritz.

"We have better control over the first scenario" Chief Howard said looking at Andy. He could reprimand him for questioning a superior officer but he understood where Andy was coming from. Just then, Provenza came back inside with Mike. Mike was carrying a laptop and placed it down on the table.

"Chief, Andy, meet Enrique Gonzalez, aka Rico. He was in jail a couple of times for larceny, the last one being aggravated robbery, he served seven years. That's where he met Leonardo Sullivan, aka Leo. He was Rico's cellmate at LA County State Prison in Lancaster" Mike stated to them. "What was Leo serving time for?" Andy asked as he looked at the computer over Mike's shoulder. "Murder homicide, served five years" Mike said and Andy shook his head in disbelief. "Great" Andy mumbled as he turned to watch Sharon on the monitor.

"This is Michael Rams, aka Mac. He was also serving time in Lancaster for aggravated battery. He was there for two years" Mike said as he pulled up another picture. "That's the driver that I pulled out of the car" Andy said to them. "Donovan Miller, two years in Lancaster for involuntary manslaughter. He was driving a car and hit someone" Mike said as he turned around to face them. "There's four guys inside, Tao" Provenza said. "So who's the fourth one?" Andy asked. "We don't know. I ran his picture against known inmates from Lancaster as that seems to be the connection with everyone but I didn't come up with anything" Mike stated.

"Sir, transportation is here" an officer from SOB stated to Chief Howard. "Alright, I want everyone in position" he said to the officer and the officer radioed everyone. "They got nothing to lose" Andy reminded him as he called the bank again. "I know" Chief Howard replied as Andy watched Sharon still sitting there. He knew they were going to take her with them, he'd just hoped that this plan was going to work. Andy knew he couldn't sit by and watch everything unfold. He looked around the command center van. Everyone was focused on the phone call and the monitors.

Rico answered the phone. "Your transportation is here, but first I need you to release the hostages" Chief Howard said as Rico watched Mac walk over to the blinds and peek through them to see the car. "They got us a limo, Rico" Mac said as he laughed as he walked back to the group.

"Okay, Chief Howard, I will release the hostages one by one, but your cop will have a gun to her head as this is happening, one false move and I won't hesitate this time" Rico stated and then hung up the phone. "Okay, everyone get ready, the hostages are coming out, one by one" Chief Howard said in the radio as he watched the monitors.

Meanwhile, Andy slipped out the command center door with one of the SOB officers. Andy had put a vest on and had his weapon drawn. He was going to be there with the officers who were tasked with rescuing Sharon from the robbers. He'd promised Matthew that he would rescue Sharon, and he wasn't going to back down on that promise. He just had to trust Chief Howard that this plan of his was going to work.

"Where's Andy?" Chief Howard turned around to look at Provenza. Provenza and Mike both looked at each other. "He's not cleared for field action yet!" Chief Howard said in disgust as they saw Andy on the monitor embedded with members of SOB.

"He's going to give me a heart attack!" Provenza mumbled as he saw Andy outside the bank. "Let's focus on the operation, we can reprimand him later, Chief" Provenza added as he was going to shoot Andy himself, if this all worked out.

The bank door opened and one by one, the hostages walked outside. They were met by patrol officers and members of SOB and taken over to the side of the building for their safety. They saw Sharon being moved inside the bank. The SOB officers, along with Andy, were hiding alongside the bushes of the bank, waiting.

Once the area was cleared from the hostages, Chief Howard called over the radio for the snipers to take position. "You have the green light" he said over the radio as they watched. "Copy" they replied. Everyone was quiet in the command center as they saw the robbers, along with Sharon start to head towards the door.

As Andy waited on the side with SOB, he knew that he was going to face some sort of disciplinary action. He didn't really care about that, he needed Sharon to be safe and he needed to be with the team that was tasked to do just that. He heard in his earpiece that there was movement coming out of the bank. He waited and watched as he saw Mac and Leo come out first. Rico was holding Sharon to him and had his gun under Sharon's chin. Sharon looked unbelievably calm at the moment. He knew at that moment what Sharon must have felt when Johnny held him hostage a few months ago.

The fourth guy came out and they started to make their way over to the limo that was waiting for them. The snipers got the four men in their scopes and one by one, picked them off. They were careful to make sure Sharon was not in the way and the robbers didn't even see it coming. Mac, Leo, Rico, and the fourth guy all dropped to the ground, dead from the head shots.

"Clear!" someone yelled out and Andy ran over to where Sharon was standing in the middle of the robbers. "Sharon!" he yelled and she turned around to his direction. He enveloped her in his arms and pulled her in close to him. "Oh god" he said as he held her.

He moved her a little back from him to get a better look, making sure that she wasn't injured from anything. There was blood splatter on the side of her face from Rico and he quickly wiped that away with his shirt sleeve. "Andy" she whispered and he shook his head. He fingered over the cut on her face from when Leo slapped her.

Chief Howard ran out of the command center and went towards where the two of them were now standing, away from the dead bodies. "Sharon?" Chief Howard said as he looked at both of them. "I'm okay, Chief. Thank you" she said as Andy held her. There was an ambulance on site. "You and I are going to have words, Lieutenant!" Chief Howard said to Andy and pointed his finger towards him. "Yes sir" Andy said as he led Sharon over to where the ambulance was located.

"Andy what did you do?" Sharon asked him as he held her. "I may have disobeyed a direct order to stay in the command center" Andy said as both Provenza and Mike walked out to join them. "Commander, are you okay?" Provenza asked her and then glared at Andy. "I'm okay, Lieutenant" Sharon answered, still in shock from the process.

Provenza started to say something to Andy but Andy held up his hand at him. "I already know" Andy said to him as he and Sharon continued to walk towards the ambulance. Provenza shook his head and threw up his hands. He then followed them to meet up with the rest of the team.

Mike led some officers inside and they brought out the belongings of the hostages. Mike had grabbed Sharon's purse and brought it over to where Andy and Sharon where located. "Thanks Mike" Andy said as he took the purse from him. "Anything else you might have left inside the bank, I'll be sure to bring it by" Mike said as he then headed back to the bank. As Mike walked back towards the bank, he grabbed the fingerprints from the fourth unknown guy before the medical examiner's office took the body away.

Provenza walked over to where Julio and Matthew were located. "Is it over?" Matthew asked Provenza as he opened the car door to let Matthew out. "Yes, Matthew. Your mother is safe and with your father by the ambulance. I'll take you over there now" Provenza said to him as they walked towards the area.

Sharon was sitting on the back step of the ambulance as she was being treated by a paramedic. Andy took a knife and cut the tape off of her wrists, careful to not pull any hairs out. "You can wash that with soap and water a couple of times to get all the glue off" the paramedic told them as he cleaned the cut Sharon had on her face. He also wiped the other side of her face with an antiseptic cloth from where the blood splatter was.

"Mom!" Matthew cried out as he got closer. He started to run towards them and Provenza let him as he was not going to chase after the kid. "Matthew, oh Matthew!" Sharon said happily as Matthew came up to them. The paramedic was done with Sharon's cut and moved out of the way so that Matthew could hug Sharon.

"I'm glad you are okay" Sharon said to him. "I was so scared. I didn't want to leave you there with the bad guys" Matthew said, crying into Sharon's shoulder. "I know, but you were very brave sneaking out like I told you to do" Sharon said as Matthew moved in front of her. "I'm very proud of you" she added as she wiped his tears and Matthew smiled a little bit.

"Flynn, why don't you take your family home and we'll settle this Monday morning, after your doctor's appointment" Provenza told Andy as they watched Sharon and Matthew interact with one another. "How much trouble am I in?" he quietly asked Provenza.

Provenza looked at his friend and for the first time that morning, he finally saw relief in his eyes. "Don't worry about it for now" Provenza said and patted him on the back. They watched Sharon stand up and Andy held out his hand for her to take. "Let's get you home" he said to her and led her to his car.

As she sat down inside and Matthew got in the back seat, she turned to Andy. "What about my car?" she said as he stood by the car door. Andy looked over at Provenza. "One of us will drive it to your house" he said to her and Sharon handed the keys from her purse over to Provenza.

"We are staying here to process the scene and then we'll bring your car back" Provenza added as Andy closed Sharon's door. "Take care of her Flynn" Provenza said and pointed his finger at Andy. Andy nodded as he got in the vehicle and drove the three of them back home.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 5

By the time Andy pulled into the driveway, Sharon was already asleep in the passenger seat. Matthew was looking out the window when Andy pulled the car into the garage. Andy turned the car off and looked at both Sharon and Matthew. He could have lost both of them this morning, and he was grateful that Fritz's plan had worked, otherwise he didn't know what he would have done. He knew he had disobeyed a direct order from a superior and he would have to face those consequences come Monday morning, but right now, he was going to cherish what he still had.

"Sharon? Sweetie, we're home now" Andy whispered to Sharon, gently waking her up. He touched her arm slightly and she jerked awake. She looked around and saw that she was still in the car, safe, and that they were now home. She turned to Andy who was sitting across from her and she tried to catch her breath. "You're okay" he whispered to her as he placed his hand on her back when she sat up. He glanced behind him and saw Matthew, who was waiting for them to get out of the car.

Sharon had her breathing under control as she sat there, still in the car. "Ready to get out?" Andy asked and she nodded. Andy got out and walked around to open her door. Matthew got out as well and waited for them. He wanted to stay close to his parents. Andy held out his hand for Sharon to take and got her out of the car. Her grip on his hand was tight, like she was afraid to let go. She walked out of the garage with Andy on one side and Matthew on the other.

As Andy opened the back door to the house, Moxie ran outside and into the yard. "I guess he had to go" Andy said but didn't get a response from either of them. Andy held the door open for Sharon and Matthew to walk inside and turned around to see Moxie running back towards the house. He closed the door behind him once everyone was in. He made a stop in the mud room first where the washer was located and removed his t-shirt with the blood stain on it. He threw it in the tub and took out a clean shirt from the dryer. He then made his way to the kitchen.

When he walked in the room, he saw Matthew clinging on to Sharon and Sharon was holding him close to her. She was whispering something in his ear, Andy didn't know what, but it seemed to relax Matthew as they stood there. Sharon glanced over at Andy as he came in. "I'm going to go take a shower" she said as Matthew moved away from her. Andy just nodded as he didn't know what else to do at the moment. He wanted to help Sharon, and hold her close to him but he also knew that Sharon needed some space to sort this all out in her head, or so he thought as he watched her go upstairs.

Andy stood at the counter and pulled out his phone. When he unlocked it, he saw about ten text messages all from their children, wondering what was going on as they heard about the bank robbery in the news. All the news said was that there was a LAPD Commander inside being held hostage and the kids wanted to know if they were involved in it somehow. Andy took a deep breath and then replied to their children, one at a time. He just stated that yes, indeed they were involved in the action this morning, and that yes it was Sharon but everything was okay and they were home. 'Please give your mom some time to process everything that happened today. I promise you that I'm taking care of her and I will let her know about your messages' he sent to Rusty, Ricky, and Emily.

He then responded to Nicole's text message and basically told her the same thing. 'Glad she is okay. Let us know if you or she needs anything, Dad' Nicole responded to her father. Andy then placed his phone in his pocket. He went looking for Sharon's phone in her purse and pulled it out, seeing the same messages just about on her phone. He saw that her battery on her phone was getting low so he plugged it into the charger that was laying on the countertop and left it there.

Andy glanced at the clock, it was after noon now. He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at Matthew. Matthew turned around and looked at his dad. Andy sighed and walked over to the kitchen table to sit down. Matthew joined him there. "Is Mom going to be okay?" Matthew asked him. "She will be, she's pretty tough you know" Andy replied as they sat there. 'One of the toughest people I know' Andy thought to himself. "Are you hungry?" Andy said, changing the topic. "A little bit" Matthew replied and then Andy stood up and walked over to the island counter.

"What would you like?" he said. "Um, peanut butter and jelly" Matthew simply said as he turned around in his chair to face Andy. Andy winked at him and pointed. "You got it" he said and then got all of the ingredients out to make Matthew a sandwich. Andy wasn't hungry himself, besides, he was going to wait and see if Sharon was hungry after she took a shower.

Meanwhile, upstairs in their bathroom, Sharon stared at herself in the mirror. She then closed her eyes and she saw Leo touching her body. She quickly opened her eyes and stripped out of her clothes, tossing them into a pile on the floor. She leaned in to the shower and turned on the water, wanting the temperature to be as hot as she could stand it. Once the temperature was to her liking, she stepped inside the shower and stood underneath the spray. She let the water rain down on her, washing away everything that had happened this morning.

She took her body wash and placed some on a loofah, rubbing it at first, all over her body. She felt as though she couldn't get all of the filthiness off so she pressed harder into her skin, until she was scrubbing her whole body with the loofah. She even scrubbed her face where the blood splatter was earlier. She closed her eyes as she rinsed her body off and then took her shampoo and scrubbed her hair with it. After she was done, she rinsed her hair.

Andy heard the water running while they were in the kitchen. 'That's been running a while now' he thought to himself. He had fixed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Matthew and Matthew sat at the table as he ate it. "Hey buddy, I'm going to go upstairs and check on your mom for a second" Andy said as he put away the peanut butter jar. "You okay down here?" he asked Matthew as he glanced at him before leaving. Matthew gave him a thumbs up as Moxie sat by Matthew, hoping that a crumb from his sandwich would fall onto the floor.

Andy quickly ran up the stairs and went into their bedroom. He still heard the water running so he decided to check on Sharon. He walked into the bathroom and gently knocked on the shower door. "Sharon? Everything okay?" he asked in a concerned voice. When he didn't get a response from her, he decided to open the door slightly and peek his head inside. "Sharon" he whispered at the sight he saw. There were red marks all over Sharon's body from where she scrubbed her skin. Sharon just stood there, under the water. Her eyes opened as soon as Andy opened the glass door.

"Come on sweetie, let's get you out of here and dried off" Andy whispered as he led her out of the shower, not caring if his clothes got wet in the process. He wrapped a towel around her body. She leaned into him and he held her close. "I'm sorry" he whispered and she shook her head, then buried it into his neck. Sharon felt a flood of emotions overtake her, Andy did as well. "I took care of our children's questions that they had" he said and Sharon pulled back to look at him. "Both of our phones were bombarded with worry messages" he explained. Sharon sighed as she placed her head in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes.

The warm air was starting to cool inside the bathroom. After holding her for what could never be enough for Andy, he moved her slightly away from his body. He moved his hands to her face and kissed her forehead. "Time to dry you off" he said to her as he moved his hands over the towel and carefully dried her off. She had red marks on her wrists from the tape that bounded her. "You don't have to do this" Sharon said softly to him. "I know, but I want to" he said simply as he took the towel from her body and dried her arms. He then moved to her chest with the towel and wiped away the droplets of water that lingered there. He left tiny kisses as he went. He moved the towel to her waist, moved it down her hips and legs, careful not to rub to hard as he saw the red blotches from Sharon scrubbing her body were still visible.

He stood back up and wrapped a towel around her head. She took the towel in her hands and fixed it so that it wrapped around her hair. Andy then held her robe out and Sharon put it on, tying the tie around her waist. He watched her as she did this. He held out his arms again and she stepped into them. "You're amazing" he whispered to her as he held her against his body again. "And I love you so much" he added as she stood in his arms.

"Dad?" Andy heard Matthew calling out to him from the hallway. Andy didn't want to let go of her at this moment or ever for that matter. "Mom?" Matthew called out again. Andy moved Sharon away from his embrace. "I'll go see what he needs" Andy said to her as he held onto her hand. "That will give me time to dry my hair" she said and Andy left the bathroom and headed downstairs to see what Matthew needed.

Sharon looked at herself in the mirror as she dried her hair with her hairdryer. She had finally felt like normal since the whole robbery ordeal this morning. That shower had helped and so had Andy. They still needed to designate a guardian for Matthew just in case something happens to the both of them, and given the situation this morning, Sharon knew that it had to happen sooner rather than later. She continued to dry her hair and fix it.

Meanwhile, Andy walked down the stairs to see Matthew standing at the bottom of the stairs. "What is it, buddy?" Andy asked him. "Is Mom okay up there?" Matthew asked. "She's okay, why do you ask?" Andy said as he tousled Matthew's hair on his head. "You were up there for a while that's all" Matthew replied and then followed Andy in to the kitchen. "I was? Hmm" Andy said as he walked over to the island countertop as his phone alerted to a text message. "Mom's phone was ringing before when you were upstairs" Matthew said as he sat back down at the kitchen table and proceeded to play with his Lego set that was downstairs.

Andy looked at his phone and saw it was a message from Provenza asking how everyone was doing. He quickly replied back to his friend. 'So far, everyone here is okay' was the message he sent to Provenza. Then he picked up Sharon's phone that was still charging to see who had called her phone. It was an unknown number and they didn't leave a voicemail. Andy put her phone back down on the counter and walked over to where Matthew was sitting.

"How are you doing?" he asked Matthew. Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "I was scared when mommy and I were in the bank" Matthew replied. Andy nodded at his reply. "I know you were. But the good part was that you listened to mommy, she had a plan to get you out safely, and you knew exactly what to do" Andy said as Matthew looked at him. Matthew stood up from his chair and walked over to Andy. He gave him a hug and Andy hugged him back.

Still upstairs, Sharon stared at her face in the mirror again. Her hair was now dry and as she pulled it up, she fixated on the scar from when Leo had hit her. She closed her eyes and thought back to this morning. There was nothing that she would have changed. She protected Matthew, she got all of the hostages out safely, and the bad guys, or dirt bags as Andy called them, were all killed, all except the driver of the car. Provenza had told her that he was currently being held and would face charges on Monday. She reopened her eyes and proceeded to get dressed in some comfortable clothes.

She made her way back downstairs and saw Matthew hugging Andy. That scene broke her heart. She walked in to the kitchen and Andy looked up and saw her. "Hi" she said as she took a deep breath. "Mommy!" Matthew said as he ran over to her again and gave her another hug. Andy stood up and watched the two. "Are you hungry?" he asked her. "Perhaps something lite?" she replied as she tried to walk further into the kitchen but Matthew clung onto her. "Matthew, sweetie, can I sit down at the table?" Sharon asked him and Matthew released the grip he had on her legs. Sharon went to sit down and Matthew followed her there.

She sat on one of the chairs at the table and Matthew stood at her side and leaned on her. She wrapped her left arm around him and watched Andy move around the kitchen. "Did you eat already?" she asked Matthew and he nodded. "What did you have?" she asked as she leaned her head down to his. "Peanut butter and jelly" he said as Sharon rubbed his back.

Andy was at the stove making some soup as he turned around to look at Sharon and Matthew. Since Sharon came downstairs, Matthew hadn't left her side. Andy understood that as he stirred the soup around in the pot. He then grabbed two bowls from the cabinet and brought them over to the stove. Andy filled both bowls with the chicken noodle soup and brought them over to the table. "Here" he said as he placed the bowl in front of Sharon. "I'll get you a spoon and some crackers too" he added as he turned around to grab those items.

Andy handed her a spoon and she took it. "Thank you" she said as she gave him a smile. He returned her smile and looked at Matthew. Sharon was struggling to eat the way that Matthew was situated on her. "Hey, buddy can you move a little so your mom can eat?" Andy asked him but Sharon shook her head no. "He's fine" she reassured Andy as she continued to eat her soup with one hand and held onto Matthew with the other.

As they were eating the soup, Sharon's phone rang again and Andy jumped up to see who was calling her. As he walked over to her phone, he glanced at the caller id on the screen and saw Jack's name there. He let out a breath as he tapped his fingers on the countertop. "Who is it?" Sharon asked him. "Jack" Andy said, almost in disgust. "Why is he calling?" she wondered. "I don't know, maybe he'll leave a message" Andy said in a curtly tone. As soon as Andy said that, he regretted it as the look in Sharon's eyes told him everything.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thank you all for your kind reviews. I appreciate them.

Chapter 6

Sharon was able to get Matthew to watch something on the TV in the family room and when she came back, she saw Andy still standing at the counter, with his head down like he had done something wrong. "Sorry" Andy said as he stood in the kitchen. "Don't apologize, I know Jack brings the worst out in you" Sharon said as she had joined him at the counter with her phone. He handed her phone to her and then leaned up against the counter and crossed his arms. She unlocked her phone and saw that Jack had indeed left her a voice mail. She retrieved the voice mail and placed the phone on speaker for them to both listen to it.

"Sharooooon, I heard from our kids that you were involved in some sort of robbery at a bank this morning" Jack started out in the message. Sharon shook her head. "How did Emily and Ricky hear about the robbery if they don't live in the area?" she asked Andy as they continued to listen to the message. "Glad to hear everything went well and you and that little pipsqueak got out alive" he continued as Andy's hand clenched into a fist. "He's got a lot of nerve saying that" Andy muttered. Sharon ran her hand up his arm to calm him down. "He's drunk, and at a casino. You can hear the slot machines in the background" Sharon said and then she ended the playback of the message and deleted it.

Andy was surprised by this. "I don't care if he has anything else to say" she said to him as she wrapped her arms around Andy's waist and Andy pulled her into him. "I think it was our children here that might have told the others, who in turn mentioned it to their father" Andy said as he held Sharon close to him. Sharon hummed as she closed her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder. "Too bad we can't ground them for leaking information" Sharon said which made Andy laugh a little bit.

"How are you holding up?" he asked her as he rubbed her back, still holding her in his arms. "I think we really need to have that discussion with Nicole and Dean soon and ask them if they would like to be Matthew's guardian, in the event that, you know" Sharon said to him. Andy nodded. "We will, but first I want to know how you are doing" Andy said as he moved her away so that he could look at her face. She didn't say anything.

"I know, I'm not doing good right now, I've been trying to keep it together for Matthew's sake but I can't get the picture of you having a gun to your head and what they did to you inside that bank" Andy confessed to her. "Andy" she whispered to him as she caressed his face with her hands. "Do you need a meeting?" she asked him. He shook his head no.

"When I close my eyes, I can still see them, I just needed to get everyone out of there alive, especially Matthew" Sharon quietly said to Andy and Andy listened. "I know it was difficult for you to be on the outside looking in, watching what was occurring and not being able to do anything about it" she added. They stood there in each other's arms for a couple of minutes until Andy broke the silence. "I felt helpless" he said and she hugged him tighter.

A couple of minutes later, Sharon started to speak. "I'm not going to be able to help you with whatever disciplinary action you're going to face" she said quietly. "I know" Andy whispered in her ear. "I'll face whatever I need to do, I just needed to make sure that you were okay, and I wanted to be there for you, not some stranger, me" Andy explained as Sharon stood back a little to look at him. She caressed his face. "And, technically I have been cleared by my doctor to resume field work" he said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"That's wonderful, Andy" she said as she buried her face into his shoulder. "Too bad now you have to face whatever Chief Howard and Provenza come up with on Monday" she said muffled by his shoulder. "Yeah, I climbed one hurdle and now I'm facing another one" he muttered into her hair as he continued to hold her.

Just then, Provenza pulled Sharon's car into the driveway and Andy had seen it through the kitchen windows. "Your car is here" he said, in a whisper to her. She untucked herself from him and moved towards the sliding glass door. She saw Provenza get out of her car and walk over towards where she was standing by the door. Sharon unlocked and opened the sliding door and Provenza stepped through. "Commander, your keys" Provenza said as he handed the keys back to Sharon. Andy stood and leaned against the island counter, watching Provenza as he entered.

"Thank you" Sharon said to Provenza as she took the keys from him and placed them on the counter. "The scene at the bank has been processed and Tao took the fourth guy's fingerprints. He said he's going to run them in our system to see if we can get an id on the guy to see who he was" Provenza explained to both Sharon and Andy. "Good" Sharon said to him as she glanced over at Andy. He was just standing there, not saying a word. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to check on Matthew" she said to them and then squeezed Andy's arm before leaving.

Provenza looked at Andy. "Look, I didn't come over here to lecture you about not obeying direct orders from superior officers" Provenza said and Andy shook his head. "I did what I had to do" Andy said but Provenza held up his hand. "I know" he said as he moved back to the door. "Julio followed me over here. Like I said earlier, we will deal with this on Monday" Provenza added as Andy showed him out. "Yeah, thanks" Andy mumbled to him and then Provenza walked down the driveway towards where Julio was waiting for him.

Andy stepped back inside the house and started the close the door behind him when he saw Rusty pull up in his car. Rusty got out and ran to the door that Andy was holding open for him. "Andy, is mom okay?" he said out of breath. "She's okay, she's in the family room with Matthew" Andy said and then Rusty went over to the family room. Andy closed the glass door and Moxie was standing in the kitchen, wagging his tail at him. Andy looked at the dog for a minute. "You got to go out?" Andy said to the dog as he made his way to the back door. Moxie followed him and him and the dog went outside in the back yard.

"Mom!" Rusty said as he entered the family room. Sharon turned around and saw Rusty standing there. "Rusty, come here" Sharon said and motioned for Rusty to join her and Matthew on the couch. They were currently watching _The LEGO Movie_ , and Matthew was enjoying it. Sharon turned on the couch to give Rusty a hug and he hugged her back.

"Gus was watching some show about cooking when it was interrupted by the local news saying that there was a robbery in progress at the bank just down the street and that a LAPD Commander was taken hostage" Rusty said to her as they both sat on the couch. "I'm okay, Rusty" Sharon said to him as she pulled back from their hug. Rusty glanced over at Matthew. "Was he in the bank with you?" he whispered to Sharon and Sharon nodded. "But, he followed my directions and escaped without anyone noticing him" Sharon reassured Rusty.

Meanwhile, back outside, Andy was sitting on one of the chairs in the yard as Moxie walked around, sniffing the grass, the flowers that were recently planted, and chasing the birds that happened to land on the fence. Andy leaned back in the chair. The sun was beating down on his face, and for once, he didn't have his sunglasses with him. He closed his eyes briefly, but quickly opened them as all he could see was Sharon being held hostage. He shook his head and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. He placed his hands over his eyes. Moxie walked over to where he was sitting and stuck his head underneath Andy's face and started to lick it.

"Hi good boy" Andy said to the dog and started to pet him. "I almost lost her today, Moxie" Andy said quietly to the dog as Moxie sat down in front of Andy. "I don't know what I would do if that ever happened" he confessed to the dog and Moxie just sat there panting. Moxie then placed his paw up on Andy's arm and looked at him. Andy had tears in his eyes every time he thought about it. Every time he closed his eyes since this morning, he still saw Sharon with that gun to her head inside the bank. He needed that sight to go away.

Sharon still sat on the couch with Rusty and Matthew. "Where did Andy go?" she asked Rusty as she started to get up from the couch. "Oh, he took the dog out in the yard when I came in" Rusty said and Sharon looked at her watch. That was twenty minutes ago, she thought to herself. After Andy's confession to her earlier when they were standing in the kitchen together, she needed to make sure that he was okay.

She opened the back door and saw Andy sitting on a chair in the middle of the yard, and Moxie sitting in front of him. She started to walk over to where he was and Andy watched Moxie's behavior change. Moxie stood up and wagged his tail, alerting Andy that someone was approaching them. Andy didn't have to turn around to know who it was. Sharon placed her hand on his back and he looked up at her. She saw the tears threatening to fall from his eyes. "Andy" she whispered as he leaned back in the chair and she sat down on top of his lap.

He circled his arms around her body and held her close to him as they both sat there in the yard. Moxie laid down next to their chair. They sat there for a while. "I can't get that image out of my head" Andy whispered to her as he looked up at the sky. Her head was on his right shoulder and her hand was covering his heart as she sat there. "Maybe you should go to a meeting?" she said quietly to him. "I don't need a damn meeting" he said, not meaning for the words to come out as harsh as they did. He took a deep breath and muttered the words "sorry" to her.

Out of all the incidents that have happened to them over the years, this one had shaken Andy to the core. It had shaken Sharon to her core as well as she sat there, on his lap, as the tears started to fall from her eyes. Andy felt the wetness roll down his neck and felt Sharon shudder as he held her. He moved his arms around her, holding her tighter to him as she cried. They have both been in life-threatening situations before, but that was before Matthew.

The two of them sat there in the chair for a couple of minutes longer as their crying subsided. It was getting late in the afternoon. They both heard the back door open and Matthew ran out of the house towards them. "Here you are!" Matthew said to them as he sat down next to Moxie. "I told you they didn't go anywhere" Rusty said as he followed him outside. Sharon shifted to get up and Andy let go of her body so she could do so. "The movie is over and he was asking where the two of you went" Rusty explained to Sharon as Matthew took Sharon's spot on Andy's lap.

"Were you crying, Dad?" Matthew asked him as he looked at his face. "Uh, yeah, I was" Andy said to him. He looked at Matthew for a minute before asking him a question. "How are you doing?" Matthew looked at his dad and he shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't know where you or mommy were at but Rusty told me you were outside" Matthew said to him.

"He panicked a little because he didn't know where you went" Rusty told Sharon as she watched Matthew and Andy sit on the chair together. "Rusty, what would you think if we asked Nicole and Dean to be the guardians of Matthew in case something happened to Andy and me" Sharon asked as she turned around to face Rusty. Rusty drew a blank. He didn't want to think about that situation, but he lived in a household with cops and he knew the job was a dangerous one. "Umm, that sounds okay to me" he said and Sharon smiled. "But why are you asking me, shouldn't you be asking Nicole and Dean that question?" Rusty asked her as they walked away from Andy and Matthew.

"Well, we wanted to make sure that all of our children are onboard with this decision that we are making" Sharon said. "Did you ask Ricky or Emily?" Rusty asked her. "Well, no because they live out of town, but you live here with us, and if something were to happen to both of us, it would also affect you as well" Sharon said as they walked back into the house. "Uh, can we stop talking about this, because it's kind of creeping me out right now" Rusty said as he sat at the kitchen table. Sharon smiled at him squirming. "Of course" she said.

Andy, Matthew, and Moxie came back inside the house as Rusty was getting ready to leave. "I'm heading back to Gus's place, he had something important he wanted to discuss today but then this happened and he told me to come check up on you" Rusty said to Sharon and gave her a hug. "I'm glad everything worked out for the good this morning" he muttered. "Me too" Sharon said and then Rusty waved to the rest of them as he left the house.

Sharon took her phone out of her pocket and was about to Facetime Ricky and Emily when the doorbell rang. "Who could that be?" Andy said out loud as he walked over to the front door. Matthew stayed in the kitchen with Moxie and Sharon. Andy peeked through the window and saw Nicole, Dean, Colin, and Avery standing on the porch. He opened the door and everyone walked inside. "What are you guys doing here?" Andy asked as he saw Nicole was carrying some sort of dish. "We brought food as we thought that you probably didn't feel like cooking tonight, plus Colin and Avery wanted to see Sharon" Nicole said as she followed her father in to the kitchen and placed the dish on the counter.

Sharon was surprised to see all of them and she went to greet them as they came in to the kitchen. "Nicole, nice to see you" Sharon said as she gave her a hug. "Sharon, I'm so glad you are okay after what happened" Nicole said to her as they broke apart. Then Colin and Avery ran up to Sharon to give her a hug. "Grandma! We heard you fought the bad guys this morning" Colin said. "And we heard Grandpa helped you too" Avery chimed in. "Oh, boys, yes your grandpa did help me get the bad guys" Sharon said to them.

"Hey Matthew, do you want to go play upstairs?" Avery turned around and asked Matthew. Matthew nodded and all three boys ran up the stairs with Moxie chasing after them. "We will call you down when we are going to eat dinner!" Nicole called after them. "Okay" was all they heard from the stairway. Sharon looked at Andy and gestured for him to start the conversation that they wanted to have with them before everything this morning.

"Um, Nicole, Dean, we are actually both glad that you stopped over today" Andy started to say. "There's something we would like to ask the two of you" Sharon chimed in. Nicole and Dean, both sat at the kitchen table across from them. Nicole looked at the both of them and wondered what they wanted to ask them. Sharon nodded to Andy. "Well, you see, we've both come to the conclusion that, our job is getting more and more dangerous than before. And, if something should happen to the both of us, we were wondering if you and Dean would be guardians to Matthew" Andy said to Nicole and Dean.

"Oh my gosh, you guys don't have to ask us. We would gladly be the guardians for Matthew" Nicole said. "In the event that something happens to the both of you" Dean chimed in. Both Sharon and Andy were relieved to hear that. "We figured since the boys get along so well with Matthew that we would step in, in case, you know" Nicole said as they sat there.

Nicole then got up and started to help Sharon in the kitchen, prepare the food that they had brought over. "It just needs to be heated up" Nicole said to Sharon as she glanced at her father sitting at the table with Dean. "How's he doing with all of this?" she asked Sharon as Sharon moved things from the refrigerator out to the counter. "I don't know. We're both dealing with it that best that we can, but we know that we are here for each other in case" Sharon said to her as she trailed off in thought.

"I don't know what my dad would do without you, Sharon" Nicole confessed. "I'd be afraid he would drink again" she stated to Sharon. Sharon shook her head. "Your father wouldn't do that, after he worked so hard to get where he is today by staying sober" Sharon said as she put the casserole dish into the oven and set the timer. She glanced at Andy and Dean, who were talking about sports and other stuff, and she just hoped she would be right about that.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 7

Nicole, Dean, and the boys left their house after dinner was over with. Sharon was speaking to both Emily and Ricky on FaceTime in the kitchen and that left Andy and Matthew in the family room. "Matthew, you like the cartoon Star Wars Rebels, right?" Andy asked him as he got up from the couch to walk over to the TV. "Yeah," Matthew replied. "Well, how about we watch Star Wars, the first movie?" Andy said as he showed the DVD box to Matthew. "That's the fourth movie," Matthew said and Andy looked at him, and creased his forehead. "That's episode four, Dad," Matthew said as Andy placed it in the DVD player. "Well, technically you're right that it is the fourth movie, but it was the first to come out," Andy said as he turned around to sit back on the couch.

Matthew was still sitting on the floor when he turned around to face Andy. "Dad, can you tell me how you rescued Mommy this morning?" he asked which had caught Andy off guard. "Oh, well," Andy said at first, hesitant to tell Matthew that he didn't obey direct orders this morning. Maybe he could tell him without telling him all of the details. "Ah, you see, Matthew, our boss made a deal with the head bad guy to release the people in exchange for a private airplane at the airport," Andy started to explain and Matthew scooted closer to him. "When the bad guys brought your Mom out, I was right behind them with a group of police officers and we were able to free Mom, and the rest you know," Andy told him as he glanced back towards the hallway and hearing movement coming closer to them.

Sharon made her way to the family room after speaking with Emily and Ricky. She had heard Andy speaking to Matthew and when she joined them in the family room, Matthew was watching Andy. "Did I interrupt something?" she asked as she sat down on the couch, next to Andy. "No," Andy said quickly as he picked up the remote to hit play. "What are we watching?" she asked, smirking at the quickness to Andy's response. "The first Star Wars movie," Andy said, but Matthew corrected him again.

"Dad, it's episode four," he said. Sharon shook her head and laughed a little bit at the two of them. She settled into Andy's side but Matthew came over to join them on the couch and wanted to sit in the middle. He squeezed his way in between them and leaned into Sharon's side. Andy looked at Sharon who smiled. Andy then placed his right arm on the back of the couch, and his hand was lightly touching Sharon's neck.

Halfway through the movie, Andy looked over at both Sharon and Matthew and saw that both of them were sound asleep. Matthew was curled up in Sharon's side, and Sharon's head was leaning against the back of the couch. Andy then leaned over to grab the remote off of the coffee table and turned off the movie and TV. He then gently woke Sharon up. "Sharon?" he whispered to her as he placed his hand on her arm. This startled Sharon and she opened her eyes in a panic. She glanced at the TV and saw that it was turned off. She then looked at Andy who was sitting next to her and Matthew. "Sorry," Andy whispered to her as she shuffled her body to sit more upright on the couch.

Andy then woke Matthew up. Matthew stretched his arms and rubbed his eyes, still half asleep. "Is the movie over already?" he asked Andy. "Afraid so, kid," Andy answered as he helped Matthew stand up from the couch. "I'll take him up, you take the dog out and lock up down here," Sharon said to Andy as she guided Matthew towards the stairs. "Sure," Andy said as he watched them leave the family room. He then turned to Moxie. "Come on, let's take you out one last time tonight," he said to Moxie and then grabbed his leash that was hanging up in the kitchen.

Matthew got ready for bed and Sharon tucked him in just as Andy came back in and walked into his room with Moxie. Moxie jumped on Matthew's bed and settled down. "Can you read me a story?" Matthew asked them as he yawned. Sharon glanced at Andy. "Sure buddy, but it's going to be a short one since you are already tired," Andy said to him as he picked out a book from the book shelf.

Sharon watched Andy as he sat on the corner of the bed and read Matthew a Dr. Seuss book. Even though Matthew was really tired, he still laughed at the funny rhymes as Andy would read the book. Sharon found herself laughing as well and Andy glanced up from the book to look at her. He gave her a smile and she smiled back. Matthew then rolled on his side, and held his teddy bear close to him, and closed his eyes.

Sharon stood up and joined Andy by Matthew's bed and kissed Matthew. "Good night, sweetie," she said. "Night Mom," Matthew replied as he yawned. Andy and Sharon then walked out of his room and closed the door behind them. They both stood out in the hallway and Andy pulled Sharon into a hug. She buried her face in his neck and took a deep breath. "He'll be okay, I'm still worried about you, sweetheart," Andy said quietly to her.

Sharon moved away from his embrace to look at his face. She caressed his face with her hands. "I love you," she said and then grabbed his hand and led him into their bedroom. He closed the door behind them and Sharon went into their bathroom to get ready for bed. He followed her in there and leaned up against the door frame and watched her.

She saw in the corner of her eye what he was doing. "I'm fine Andy," she told him as she rubbed moisturizer on her arms and legs. She then changed her clothes and brushed her teeth, all as Andy still watched her. She turned to him. "I'm more worried about you," she said to him. Andy moved off of the door frame and further into the bathroom. He walked up to her and placed his hands on her arms.

"Me? Why are you worried about me?" he asked her as he leaned down and kissed her neck. She smiled. "Your heart for one thing, and from what you told me earlier today," she said not wanting to tell him that Nicole was also worried about him. He shook his head. "I don't need a meeting, Sharon," he paused what he was doing. "I need you," he whispered as he looked into her eyes. "Plus, my heart is fine, I've had no issues," he said, reassuring her as he resumed kissing her neck.

Sharon watched as his eyes turned a darker shade of brown and saw how much love they held for her. "I'm sorry about earlier when Jack called," he said to her as he looked down, still caressing her arms. "Forget about Jack," she whispered as she placed her hand under his chin and lifted his face back up to meet hers. She leaned in and kissed him. He moved with her towards their bed, not breaking their kiss until the back of his legs hit their bed.

Later on that night, as they both laid in bed, legs tangled with each other's, Andy held Sharon close to his body. She laid her head on his chest as he ran his finger up and down her back. Tears were shed by both of them. Fears brought forth before they fell into bed together. Sharon moved her head to get more comfortable when they heard a knock on their bedroom door.

"Mom? Dad?" they heard Matthew's voice coming from the other side of the door. "At least he's knocking again before entering our room," Andy said quietly as Sharon moved off of him. She turned on the lamp on the bedside table. Andy glanced at the clock in their room. It was 2:30 in the morning. He got up out of bed and Sharon did the same, quickly putting their clothes back on. "Hang on sweetie!" Sharon called out as she quickly changed the bed sheets. Andy helped her and then she climbed back into their bed as Andy walked over to the door. He glanced at Sharon to make sure she was okay before he opened the door.

There stood Matthew, with his teddy bear, and Moxie by his side. The hallway light was back on and Andy saw there were tears on Matthew's face. "What's the matter, buddy?" he asked Matthew as he moved to the side to allow him to enter their room. Moxie followed and Andy closed the door behind them. "I had a bad dream," Matthew said through a sniffle as he climbed up onto their bed. "Oh, I'm sorry sweetie," Sharon said. Andy glanced at Sharon who had made room for Matthew. He then took the rumpled up bed sheets and brought them into their bathroom where the laundry basket was located.

Andy used the bathroom before returning to his now, full bed, with Matthew curled up to Sharon and Moxie sleeping on the bed, across the bottom. Andy crawled back into bed, making sure he didn't kick Moxie or disturb Matthew as he got in. There was no way he could get under the covers as the dog was sleeping on top of them. He looked over at Sharon, who had the covers over her and Matthew. Matthew was asleep already as Sharon held him. Sharon's eyes were closed as well. "Good night," Andy whispered to both of them.

Andy then grabbed a blanket from the chest at the foot of the bed and climbed back on the bed. Moxie looked up from where he was sleeping to watch what he was doing. Once Andy placed the blanket over himself, Moxie then laid his head back down, and slept. Andy turned onto his side to face Sharon and Matthew. He watched them as they slept, knowing that the events that morning could have been a lot different if something had gone wrong. He laid there, not wanting to fall asleep because he knew if he did, he would relive the scenes over and over again. After a half hour of watching them sleep, Andy couldn't keep his eyes open any longer and finally drifted off to sleep himself.

The next morning, Sharon woke up to something hot blowing on her face. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Moxie on the floor, next to her, breathing in her face. "Moxie," she whispered to the dog and the dog just stood there. She stuck her hand out and lightly patted him on his head. Sharon then glanced at the clock at saw that it was 6:30 in the morning. She let out a deep sigh as she rolled over and saw Matthew was curled up to Andy, who was sleeping on his back. The blanket barely covering him. The sight brought a smile to Sharon's face. She then moved her head back and saw Moxie still standing next to her side of the bed.

"Okay, okay, give me a minute here," she whispered to the dog so she didn't disturb Andy and Matthew. She slowly slipped out of bed and threw on her robe, tying it closed. She then opened their bedroom door and Moxie ran out of the room and down the stairs. Sharon followed him and caught up to him in the kitchen. Moxie was sitting there waiting for Sharon and she grabbed his leash and placed it on him. "Alright, let's take you out," she said as she opened the back door and they went into the yard.

Moxie did his duty and they came back inside the house. Sharon locked up the back door and then proceeded to head back upstairs, and Moxie followed her. Andy and Matthew were still sleeping when they slipped back into the bedroom. Sharon slowly laid back down, trying not to disturb the two and as she settled back in, she saw Andy looking back at her. She gave him a smile and he smiled back at her.

"Morning," she whispered to him. "Morning," he replied and saw that Matthew was now sleeping on his left arm as he tried to move toward Sharon. He lifted himself up a little to give her a peck on her lips without disturbing Matthew. "Where'd you go just now?" he asked her. "Moxie woke me up and had to go outside," she replied as she laid there watching him and Matthew. "Come over to the other side," Andy said to her. She gave him an inquisitive look. "Don't worry, I'll scoot over and move Matthew when I do so," he explained to her.

Sharon got out of bed and walked over to Andy's side of the bed. He scooted both himself and Matthew over a little and Sharon laid down onto Andy's right side. She tangled her legs with his and laid her head on his chest. He was now holding both of them. Sharon with his right arm and Matthew with his left arm. Surprisingly, Matthew did not wake up during the shuffling of places on the bed.

As Andy held both of them, he spoke to Sharon. "So, Dean and I were talking last night and he was saying that they were taking the boys to Disneyland next weekend, so baring that we don't have a case or anything, I was wondering if we could maybe take Matthew there too," Andy whispered. "Oh! Disneyland! I haven't been there in ages," Sharon said quietly to him. "They are going Saturday afternoon and then spending the night there and all day Sunday. He invited us if we wanted to meet them there," Andy said as he rubbed Sharon's back.

"And, what better way to celebrate you on Mother's Day than as a Princess at Disneyland," he whispered to her and she chuckled as she turned her face in his chest. "It would be nice to see Matthew, Colin, and Avery's faces as they see everything there," Sharon said as she looked at Andy's face. "So what do you say? Would you let me treat you like a Princess?" he asked her. She smiled and leaned in to kiss him.

"Now, will you come to church with us?" she asked him and he groaned. She slapped his arm and started to get up from his embrace. "Hang on! Where are you going?" he said as she got out of their bed. "I'm going to take a shower and get dressed while you wake up Matthew and get him and yourself ready for church," Sharon said as she slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Andy laid back down. "You drive a hard bargain," he said out loud to no one in particular.

Andy then woke Matthew up and got him ready for church. "Come on buddy, your mom wants to go to church this morning and we need to go with her," Andy told him as Matthew stood in his closet, wondering what to wear until Andy stepped in and chose a pair of pants and a polo shirt for him. Matthew got dressed while Andy went back to their room to decide what he was wearing. He heard Sharon open the bathroom door while he stood in the closet, trying to pick out something nice but he didn't want to wear a suit.

"Why don't you wear a dress shirt with these pants?" she said as she joined him in their closet. Sharon was wearing a sundress that Andy hadn't seen before. "Is that new?" he asked her. She nodded her head as he grabbed her hands in his. He looked down at the faint red marks that were still left from the tape. "You look absolutely beautiful!" he said to her as he looked up to meet her face again. She smiled. "Get dressed, I'll go see if Matthew is ready and then meet us downstairs," she said to him as she walked away.

Andy went to church that morning because he knew it was important to Sharon that they all attend as a family. So he sat there in that pew next to Sharon and Matthew and thanked God that they were still with him today. After church, Sharon wanted to speak with the priest before they left so as they walked out, Sharon stopped and waited for the priest to be finished with his greetings to the parishioners as they left the church. Once no one else was exiting, Sharon walked over to the priest and spoke to him.

Andy took Matthew over to where there was a bench inside a flower garden and sat there with him as they waited for Sharon to be finished. Sharon stood there and spoke to Father Espinoza about what happened yesterday and how the images were haunting her every time she closed her eyes. "Have you spoken with Andy about this?" Father Espinoza asked as he gestured his head in the direction of where Andy was currently sitting. "We've talked about it but," Sharon trailed off. Father Espinoza placed his hand on top of hers. "Sharon, he was there with you and watched everything that happened, is that correct?" he asked her. She nodded. "He was on the outside watching on a video screen while I was inside the bank," she said as she looked over to see what Andy and Matthew were doing.

"Talk to him, he's hurting too," he said to her and she gave him a look. "I can tell by just watching him," he simply said as the two of them walked over towards where Andy and Matthew were sitting. Father Espinoza stopped just short of the area and Sharon turned around and thanked him. Andy looked up at Sharon who was now in front of him and he glanced over to see Father Espinoza walking back inside the church. "Everything okay?" he asked her as he grabbed her hand. She nodded as he took her hand. Matthew walked ahead of them. "Maybe Nicole and Dean could watch Matthew for a little bit today so that you and I can focus on each other," Sharon said as they walked towards their car.

"I thought we focused on each other last night?" Andy said as he gave her a wink. She swatted at his arm. "I'm being serious here!" she said to him. "Okay, okay," Andy replied as he placed his hands up like he was surrendering to her. "When we get home, I'll give her a call," he said as they approached their car and all three of them got in. Andy then drove them back home.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 8

"Sure Dad, he can come over today" Nicole said as she was talking with Andy over the phone. "Thanks Nicole, Sharon and I appreciate that" Andy said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Sharon and Matthew were upstairs changing their clothes as Andy stood in the kitchen talking to Nicole on the phone. "Is everything okay between you and Sharon?" she asked him, not wanting to pry. "We need to work through some things from yesterday, but I think we are going to be okay. Her and I have been through a lot worse but for some reason, this is different" Andy confessed to his daughter. "Dad, it's different because you guys have Matthew now, before you didn't worry too much because all of your kids are grown up" Nicole stated and Andy finally realized that's what was different.

"I think you're right, Nicole" Andy said as he thought about what she said. Just then, Sharon walked in to the kitchen, wearing Capri pants and a nice blouse. She smiled at Andy as she walked over to him. "Um, I got to go. We'll see you in a half hour or so" Andy said to his daughter and hung up. He placed his phone on the countertop and pulled Sharon into his embrace and kissed her. "So what's the plan?" he said as they broke apart and he looked at her. "I mean, we could stay here and I can show you just how much I appreciate you but you look absolutely gorgeous in that outfit and I'd hate for it to go to waste" Andy rambled to her.

She caressed his face, trying to relax him as he was rambling. "I thought we could go down to the beach and walk along the waterfront there, like we used to do. We could talk there, while we enjoy the scenery" she suggested. Andy nodded. "That sounds perfect" he said as he gave her a quick kiss. He heard Matthew running down the stairs as he left Sharon in the kitchen to go change his clothes. "Slow down buddy!" he said to Matthew as he passed him. "Where's mom?" Matthew said to Andy. "She's in the kitchen" he said and Matthew quickly went in to the kitchen as Andy headed upstairs.

'Wonder why he's in a hurry' Andy thought to himself as he made his way upstairs. Everything seemed to be in order as he looked around the hallway, in Matthew's room, in the hallway bathroom, and then finally walked into their bedroom to change his clothes. He decided to wear a nice pair of dress jeans and a black dress shirt. He went into their closet to pick out a fedora hat and headed back downstairs.

When he joined them in the kitchen, he saw Matthew sitting at the kitchen table working on something. "Ready?" he said to Sharon as he stood in the kitchen. Sharon shook her head no. "Matthew forgot that he had math homework, so he's doing that now before we leave" Sharon said and Andy acknowledged. She looked at Andy and gave him a small smile. "You look very handsome like that" she said quietly. "Is the hat too much?" he asked her. "No, it's perfect" she said as she walked over to see how Matthew was doing.

After Matthew finished his homework, which didn't take him long, the three of them left with Moxie and headed over to Nicole and Dean's house. Andy pulled up in the driveway and parked. Sharon also got out of the car and along with Andy, walked up with Matthew and Moxie to the front door. Nicole opened the front door and Matthew and Moxie walked inside, joined by Andy and Sharon. "Thank you so much for doing this Nicole" Sharon said as she stood in the entryway. "It's no problem" Nicole said as she looked at Sharon and her dad. "Oh, and we were thinking about joining you guys at Disneyland next weekend, but we haven't told Matthew yet" Sharon said quietly to Nicole. "I'll let it be a surprise as much as I can" Nicole said.

"Well, we should get going" Andy said to them. Sharon nodded and then turned around. "Bye Matthew! Be good!" she called out to him. He was already upstairs in Colin and Avery's room and Moxie was up there too. "Okay!" was the answer they got from the upstairs. "Bye sweetie, thank you" Andy said as he kissed Nicole's cheek. Nicole closed the door behind her father and step-mother and watched them walk away.

Sharon turned to Andy as they walked back to their car and held his hand. They walked silently to the car and got in. Andy looked over at Sharon as she buckled her seat belt. He hoped that this time together without any distractions or interruptions would benefit both of them. He started the car and drove them to the beach in Santa Monica.

When they arrived at the beach, it was not crowded at all, to their surprise. They got out of their car and Andy held Sharon's door open for her. He took her hand and they started to stroll along the boardwalk and eventually walked along the beach in the sand. Sharon took off her sandals she was wearing and carried them in her other hand. After about ten minutes, they found a spot to sit where they could talk.

"I know we've discussed this yesterday and last night, but I just feel like something's different with us" Sharon started to talk first as Andy still held her hand as they sat, facing the ocean. "This whole thing is different" Andy started out quietly. "For one, I wasn't there with you. And grant it I know you can handle yourself and you did great yesterday but I felt like I should have been in there with you and Matthew to begin with" he confessed to her.

Sharon shook her head. "Andy, you had your doctor appointment and met us afterwards. What I should have done was waited for you to get there before Matthew and I went inside the bank" she said to him as he continued to caress and hold her hand. Andy was shaking his head now. "You and I can play the what ifs till we're blue in the face. What happened yesterday happened, and there's nothing we can do now except heal" he said to her.

Sharon leaned into his side as they sat there watching the ocean waves crash and Andy placed his arm around her. "I also think this is different because we have Matthew now" Andy said and took a deep breath. "Nicole brought that up to me and I think she's right" he continued to say as Sharon listened to him. "It was different when it was just you and me, our kids are grown up, we didn't have to worry about them or the consequences of our actions, but now, we have Matthew and we both worry about him" he said to her.

Sharon wiped the tear away that was running down her cheek as Andy spoke. "I would just like to close my eyes, and for once, not be back in that bank with those" Sharon started to say but got choked up. "Dirt bags" Andy finished her sentence for her and she smiled into his neck and sniffled at the same time. Andy heard her and held her tighter to him and kissed her head.

"I was so scared Andy" she whispered to him as he held her to him. "I thought I wasn't going to see you again, or Matthew or the rest of our children" she confessed. "You are the bravest person I know, Sharon" he said to her and she laughed. "Really?" she questioned. Andy moved her so that he could look into her eyes as he spoke. "Yes, you Sharon O'Dwyer Raydor Flynn, are the bravest, most resourceful, kind, warm, and kick-ass person I know. And I am very proud to be with you" Andy confessed to her as he held her face in his hands. She leaned forward, removed his hat, and kissed him on his lips.

When they broke apart, it was her turn to talk. "I'm worried about you" she told him. "Sharon, I'm not going to compromise my sobriety and my heart is fine. I know what I need and when I need a meeting. Trust me, please" he said to her as she looked at him. "I'm not going to put you through that. I never would put you through that again. That's why I get mad at Jack, whenever he pops up. He didn't deserve you, Sharon" he said.

"My knight in shining armor" she said to him as she caressed his face. "I don't know if it's still shining, it might be a little dull, some scratches on it" he said to her as he looked down. She lifted his chin back up so that he was looking at her again. She shook her head. "It's perfect" she said and he smiled. He pulled her into his side again and they watched the ocean waves crash into the beach. "Are we gonna be okay?" he asked her after a couple of minutes go by. She placed her hand on his heart and snuggled into his embrace. "We're going to be just fine" she said to him as he continued to hold her there.

They spent the rest of the afternoon sitting there at the beach. It wasn't until the tide started to come in closer to where they were sitting, that they decided to stand up and start walking again. Sharon placed her sandals back on. Andy placed his hat back on his head and they start to walk back towards the boardwalk. "Where did you get that hat?" she asked him as they walked. "Um, some hat place in Venice Beach" he said. "It makes you look handsome and sexy" she confessed as they headed back towards the car.

Andy sighed as they continued to walk. "Are you worried about tomorrow?" Sharon asked him. "No, well, maybe a little but I can handle Provenza and Chief Howard" he said. "If they come down hard on me, then I'll accept it and move on" he added as they walked along the boardwalk. "Do you want me to see" Sharon started to say but Andy stopped her. "No, we always said that our relationship would never compromise the order and discipline of your division" Andy said as they continued walking.

They stopped when they got to their car and Andy pushed Sharon up against the passenger door as he kissed her passionately. She tipped his hat up from his face as her hands moved from his face down his body and settled on his back. "We could make out in the back of the car like teenagers" Andy whispered to her as they both were catching their breaths. "Not out here in the public eye" Sharon said as she ran her hands down the front of his shirt.

Andy pulled his phone out to check what time it was and he saw that Nicole had texted him. 'Everything is fine here. Was wondering if you were joining us for dinner here or not. Take your time' her text message said. Andy looked at Sharon. "We can either join them for dinner tonight or go somewhere alone" he said to her as he placed his phone back in his jeans pocket. Sharon thought about it. "We can have dinner with them" she said, kissed him again, and then turned so that Andy could open her door. She got in the car and he closed the door and made his way to the driver's side.

"I'll text Nicole back and tell her we are on our way over there" Sharon said as she pulled out her phone. "Rusty texted me, he's home now, I guess Gus told him about an offer at a new restaurant outside of LA" Sharon said as she responded to his text. "Poor kid, I'm sure he doesn't like that" Andy said as he drove them over to Nicole's house. She then texted Nicole to tell her they were headed over now. Rusty didn't respond to her text right away. "I'm hoping Rusty realizes this is an opportunity for Gus to grow and expand his horizons. I just hope he's supportive of him" Sharon said as she looked out her window.

Sharon put her phone away and grabbed Andy's right hand as he continued to drive them to Nicole and Dean's house. When they arrived there, they could hear children laughing coming from the back yard of the house. Sharon looked over at Andy as they walked towards the house. "At least we know he's having fun" Andy shrugged as they walked to the front door. Sharon rang the doorbell and a few seconds later, Dean opened the front door.

"Come on in, Andy, Sharon" he said to them as he held the door open. "The boys are outside playing in the yard with Moxie, and Nicole is out there with them" he explained as the three of them walked towards the kitchen and then Sharon and Andy made their way towards the patio while Dean stayed in the kitchen preparing the food for the cookout.

Sharon opened the sliding glass door and Nicole turned around from her seat to see Sharon and her father walk through. "Hello!" Nicole said as she stood up to greet them. "Hi sweetie!" Andy said as he gave her a kiss on her cheek. Sharon did the same after Andy moved. "I hope they weren't any trouble?" Sharon asked her as she watched Matthew play with Avery and Colin, as they chased Moxie around the yard. "None at all, Sharon" Nicole said as she moved some chairs closer to where she was sitting. "Here, sit, can I get you two anything to drink?" she asked them. "Water is fine with me" Sharon said. "Same, but stay here, I can go get them" Andy said to Nicole as he made his way back into the house.

Nicole and Sharon sat down on the patio and watched the boys play. "So, how was this afternoon?" Nicole asked her. Sharon turned to face her stepdaughter and smiled. "It was good. I think that's what we needed" Sharon said as she cleared her throat. "Thank you for watching both of them while we did that" she added. "Sharon, it's not a problem. We told you in the beginning that if you ever needed someone to watch Matthew, we would be happy to do so. Plus, with Moxie, the boys can run off all of their pent up energy that they seem to constantly be having" Nicole said and the two of them laughed.

Andy came out with their drinks and handed one of the water glasses to Sharon. "Dean's almost ready to place the food on the grill. What were you ladies laughing about?" Andy said as he took his seat next to Sharon. Sharon grabbed Andy's right hand as they sat there. "Oh, we were just talking about the boys playing" Sharon said to him as she took a sip of water.

Matthew turned around and saw that his parents were back. He decided to run over to them and greet them. "Mom! Dad!" he said as he came over to them. Sharon placed her water glass on the table and Matthew gave her a hug. "Hello, my sweet! Are you having a good time over here?" she asked him as he turned around in their hug to look at Colin and Avery. "Yes!" he said and then he ran back to play with them and Moxie still.

"How was he this afternoon?" Andy asked Nicole as Dean was cooking the food on the grill now. "He seems to be fine, Dad. No real problems at all" Nicole said as she made her way over to Dean to see if he needed help. Andy then glanced at Sharon who was enjoying the scene in front of them of the boys all sitting on the grass and Moxie laying there as they rubbed his belly.

It was getting late in the evening and everyone was sitting outside by the patio table. "Well, it's getting late, and it's a school night too, so what do you say?" Sharon said to Andy as they sat there. "We can get going" he answered as he pushed back from the table to stand up. Matthew was laying on the chaise lounge that they had and Moxie was next to him. Andy walked over to him and bent down. "Ready, buddy?" he asked him. Matthew sat up and nodded his head.

"Thank you again" Sharon said to Nicole and Dean as they four of them made their way towards the front door. Andy had Moxie's leash in his hand and Matthew's hand in the other. When they got to the front door, Matthew waited for his mom and Sharon then took his hand. "Good night!" Sharon said to Nicole and Dean, giving them a kiss on their cheeks. "Good night Sharon! Good night Matthew!" they said. Andy then leaned over and kissed Nicole's cheek. "Good night, Nicole" Andy said to her. "Night Dad" she said to him and they left.

Everyone piled into the car and Andy drove them home. When they arrived, they saw Rusty sitting in their kitchen as they pulled into the driveway. "Hmm, I wonder what Rusty is doing there?" Sharon said as Andy turned the car off. When they walked inside the house, Matthew and Moxie went straight upstairs. "Hi Rusty!" Matthew said as he walked passed him. Rusty looked up to see the back of Matthew and Moxie. He turned around to see Sharon and Andy walking in the kitchen.

"Hey Mom, Andy" he said to them as they made their way inside the kitchen. "Rusty? Everything okay here?" Sharon asked as she placed her purse on the counter. "Yeah, sure" Rusty grumbled as he sat there. Sharon turned to Andy and sighed. Andy nodded and made his way towards the hallway. "I'm going to go upstairs and make sure Matthew doesn't get into trouble" Andy said as he left.

Sharon sat down next to Rusty at the kitchen table. "Okay, what's going on?" she asked him as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Gus got a job offer at a restaurant in Napa" Rusty said as he looked down at his hands. "Oh, wow, that's wonderful. He's been working so hard at that other restaurant" Sharon said, trying to sound supportive. "Yeah, well, he told me that today and I was kind of caught off guard when he said it. He said I could transfer to better law school at UC-Berkley. He had this all planned out without telling me!" Rusty said as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Did you and Gus discuss this after he told you?" Sharon asked him. Rusty nodded his head. "I told him that Andrea had offered me a summer job after my internship was over to work in her office and that it was a great opportunity that I didn't want to miss" Rusty said and this was news to Sharon. 'Why didn't Andrea mention this to me at our lunch the other day?' she wondered. "Well, that's good news too, Rusty" Sharon said to him. Rusty sat there, head looking down at the table.

"So, how did the two of you leave things today?" she asked him. "I told him he shouldn't pass up this new restaurant and he said I should stay in LA since I have a summer job lined up already" Rusty explained. "I guess we are going to try this thing long distance, but honestly, Mom, do long distance relationships ever work out?" Rusty asked her. Sharon looked at him and cleared her throat.

"Well, long distance relationships have their advantages and their disadvantages just like any relationship" Sharon started to explain to him. "How so?" Rusty asked. "You'll know just how much you miss the person that you love, when you haven't seen them for a while. Sometimes it makes the relationship stronger, and other times, it doesn't" Sharon explained. "Have you ever been in a long distance relationship?" Rusty asked her.

"Well, I have two long distance relationships right now, with Ricky and Emily" Sharon said but Rusty shook his head. "That's different, they are your children. I'm talking about a romantic relationship" Rusty explained. "Oh, I see" Sharon said as she paused for a moment. "Well, you could say that my relationship with Andy, when it first began years ago, was sort of a long distance relationship" she explained and Rusty listened.

"And now look at us, we're married, we adopted Matthew together, and we have five other wonderful children between us" Sharon said as she patted Rusty's arm. "Yeah, but you were married to Jack for thirty years and that wasn't a good, long distance relationship, from what I saw" Rusty said and Sharon agreed. "The past is the past" Sharon said as she shrugged her shoulders. "You don't know what the future is going to hold, and sometimes, you need to take chances at work, at home, and with relationships" Sharon said as she stood up from the table.

Rusty stood up from the table as well. "Thanks Mom" he said to her as he started to make his way to the back door and head to his apartment over the garage. "Good night Rusty!" she said after him and he waved. Sharon locked the back door and made her way upstairs to join Andy and Matthew. She peeked in Matthew's room and saw that he was already asleep. She kissed him goodnight and left his room, closing the door behind her.

She made her way across the hall to their bedroom and saw Andy was reading a book in bed. "Everything okay?" he asked her as she made her way to the bathroom to get ready for bed. "Yes, he and Gus are going to try a long distance relationship as Gus was offered a job at a restaurant in Napa" she explained through the half closed bathroom door. "Ah, I see" Andy said as he placed the book down on his nightstand and pulled back the covers on the bed.

Sharon came out wearing her nightgown and Andy gave her a smile. She turned the light switch off as she made her way to their bed. Just the lamp on Andy's nightstand was on. "Come here" Andy said as he patted the empty bed space next to him. Sharon joined him and Andy placed the covers over her. She settled in to Andy's side and placed her hand on his chest. "I love you" she said to him as she kissed him. "I love you too" he said to her as he kissed her. They settled in for the night, hoping that their talk this afternoon helped both of them to sleep well.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 9

Monday morning came quickly for Andy as the alarm went off in their bedroom. He leaned over Sharon and turned the offensive noise off. As he was coming back down, he leaned in and kissed Sharon, which woke her up. "Hmm, good morning my handsome Lieutenant" she said after they broke their kiss. He smiled and laughed nervously. "Well, I don't know how much longer you can call me Lieutenant, I think Fritz and Provenza are going to demote me this morning" Andy said as he laid back down on his back.

Sharon swatted at his arm as she rolled onto her side to face him. "You're not getting demoted, Andy. And if you were, I would stand up and fight it" Sharon said as she watched him lay there. "It's insubordination, plain and simple. I was given a direct order and I disobeyed it" Andy explained to her. "They could pretty much do whatever they want to me" he added as he reached up to her and ran his hand down her arm.

"If you were in FID or IA still, how would you punish me?" he asked her as he shifted onto his elbow and looked at her. Sharon was stunned by the question he asked her. "Was this before we started seeing each other or after we started seeing each other?" she asked him in return. "Before, you'd always yell at me" he said as she started to get out of bed. "Because you'd always be getting yourself into trouble" she said as she went through her dresser drawer. "That's not true!" he protested as she turned around to look at him, hands on her hips. "Partly true, but mostly Provenza's fault" he stated as he laid back down on his back and watched her enter the bathroom.

"What color are you wearing today?" he asked her as he climbed out of bed. "Maybe blue?" she called out to him as he made his way into their closet. "Blue, blue" he said to himself as he looked through his shirts and found a blue shirt. He then picked out his charcoal grey suit and walked into the bathroom to join Sharon.

Later on, after both were dressed, Andy went into Matthew's room to wake him up. "Come on buddy, it's time to get up for school" Andy said as he opened the blinds in the room. "Dad I don't feel good" Matthew whined as he turned over in his bed. "Oh really, what's the matter?" Andy said concerned about him. "My stomach hurts" Matthew said quietly. Andy sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at Matthew. He placed his hand on his forehead to see if Matthew had a temperature. "Hmm, you don't feel warm to me but I can get mommy and ask her to come over here" Andy said to him and he nodded.

Andy stood up and made his way back to their bedroom. "Uh, Sharon?" he called out, not knowing where she was. "In here" a voice came from the closet. Sharon was just finishing getting ready for work as she placed her gun in her holster. "Matthew says he's sick, stomach hurts him" Andy said. "Oh no!" Sharon said as she exited the closet and headed towards Matthew's room. "I don't think he has a fever. I mean I checked his forehead and he doesn't feel warm to me" Andy explained as he followed her out of their room and over to Matthew's room.

Sharon entered Matthew's room and sat next to him on his bed. "What's the matter, sweetie?" she asked him as she felt his forehead. He didn't feel warm to her either. "My stomach hurts" Matthew muttered. Sharon moved the covers off of him and started to feel his stomach. "Does it hurt when I touch it?" Sharon asked him as she placed her fingers on his stomach. "No" Matthew replied. "Do you feel like throwing up?" she asked. "No" Matthew said. Sharon nodded and stood up. "Why don't you go to the bathroom and afterwards, see if it still hurts you" Sharon said as Matthew got out of bed.

Andy watched Matthew leave his room and head for the bathroom. He then looked at Sharon. "Do you think he's faking it?" Andy asked her and she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. He could have a stomach ache, maybe from something he ate yesterday at Nicole and Dean's house" Sharon said. Andy walked closer to her. "Or maybe he doesn't want to go to school because he doesn't want to be away from us?" Andy suggested as he pulled Sharon into his arms. She gave him a quick kiss and then pulled away as she glanced at her watch.

"I'll go downstairs, maybe make him some toast or something like that, and I'll start making us breakfast too" Andy said to her as they left Matthew's room. "Okay" Sharon said to him with a smile as she made her way towards the hallway bathroom where Matthew was. Andy headed downstairs with Moxie.

Sharon knocked on the bathroom door. "Matthew? Are you okay?" she asked him. The bathroom door opened and Matthew was washing his hands. "Do you feel better now?" she asked as she held the hand towel for him to dry his hands. Matthew shook his head no and then Sharon brought him back to his room. "Tell me what's bothering you?" she asked him as he sat on his bed and didn't say anything. Sharon placed her arm around him and talked quietly. "You know, you can tell me or daddy anything, right? Anything that's bothering you, and we won't judge you or make fun of you, anything like that" Sharon said and Matthew understood.

"So, you don't feel sick, but your stomach hurts you, is that correct?" Sharon asked him and Matthew nodded. "Okay, well, are you nervous about something? Is something happening at school today?" Sharon asked him in an understanding voice. "No" Matthew answered in a quiet voice. Sharon sighed as she held Matthew close to him. "Is this about what happened Saturday morning at the bank?" Sharon asked him and Matthew shrugged his shoulders. She took a deep breath. "Matthew, sweetie, you're safe, I'm safe, Daddy's safe too. You were so very brave for me and I would like you to continue to be brave for me and for Daddy as well" Sharon said to him.

Matthew sat there in his mother's arms and hugged her. "What if someone asks me what I did this weekend?" Matthew asked Sharon. "Well, why don't you tell him that you played with your cousins and your dog, which you did do that" Sharon said. "You want me to lie then?" Matthew asked. "No, sweetie, I don't ever want you to lie to anyone, but you don't have to tell your friends what happened unless you want to" Sharon said as they sat there. Matthew waited and then responded. "I really don't want to tell them" he said. "There's nothing wrong with that" Sharon reassured him.

"Now, come on, get dressed. Daddy's downstairs making you some toast, okay?" Sharon said as she stood up and watched Matthew walk over to get his clothes for school. "How will I know if you and Daddy are safe today?" he asked her as he brought his clothes to the bathroom and Sharon followed him. "Well, I know you've been through two police incidences in the past couple of weeks, the first one with Daddy getting shot and on Saturday with me, and I know you want to make sure that we are safe each day we go to work" Sharon explained to him as she knelt down to his level. She brushed his hair over to the side of his face.

"I promise you that Daddy and I will be as safe as we can be each and every day we go to work. I don't want you to worry about that because you have a lot of cool things to learn about in school still" Sharon said to him and smiled. Sharon sighed. "I'll make you a deal, you go to school today and every day till the end of the school year, and learn as much as you can each day, and while you are there, I'm going to give you a small LAPD badge pin to wear on your shirt. How bout that?" Sharon asked him. "Deal" Matthew said and then he got dressed for school.

Sharon then made her way downstairs to join Andy in the kitchen. "Your son drives a hard bargain" she said to him as he handed her a cup of coffee. "Oh really?" he said to her with a smile. "Yes, I think he's learned that from you" Sharon said as she took a sip of her coffee and noticed that breakfast was on the table already. "Is he feeling better?" Andy asked her as he stood at the island counter, waiting for the toast to be done.

"He wasn't sure what he should say to the kids at school about what happened on Saturday, but we talked and I think he's good" she said to him as she went through her work bag. "What are you looking for?" Andy asked her as he watched her go through her bag. "My LAPD badge pin, I know I have one in here. It says Commander on it" she said to Andy. Andy smiled, knowing who the pin was for. "Ahh, so that's the bargain you came up with" he said to her as he placed the toast on the table. Sharon went to look for the pin in her desk in the den.

Matthew came downstairs all dressed for school and sat down at the kitchen table. "Feeling better?" Andy asked him as he placed the toast on Matthew's plate. Matthew nodded. "Mommy's giving me a pin to wear to school today" Matthew said, proudly. "Yeah, she told me. You're very lucky" Andy said to Matthew and ruffled his hair as Sharon came back into the kitchen holding the pin in her hand.

Sharon placed the pin on Matthew's shirt. "There you go, now you have a very important part to play" Sharon said to him as she sat down at the table. Matthew was very proud to be wearing his mother's pin. He kept looking at it as they ate breakfast. When it was time for them to get ready to leave, Matthew grabbed his backpack and then waited for Sharon to grab her bag. "All set?" she asked him and he nodded. Andy was outside with Moxie as the two of them approached the car.

Andy walked over to the car and unlocked it. Matthew climbed in the backseat with Moxie and Andy held Sharon's door open for her to get in. He got in the driver's seat and drove them to Matthew's school. When they arrived there, Andy parked the car and got out to let Matthew out of the car. "Have a good day at school today" Sharon said to him as she stood outside the car, and gave him a hug. "Thanks Mom!" he said to her. Andy then walked him over to where the kids were lining up and they waited for the doors to open.

The doors to the school opened and the kids started to walk in. "Alright Matthew, be good and have a great day. We'll pick you up at your after school program today" Andy said to him and then Matthew walked inside, waving to Andy as he did. Andy then made his way back to the car and Sharon waited for him. "Did you tell him we were going to Disneyland yet?" Andy asked as he sat back in the driver's seat. "I was going to tell him today after school, or do you think we should wait?" she asked him as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Up to you" he said as he drove them over to the doggie day care place. "Did you make a reservation here for Moxie this weekend or is Rusty going to watch him?" Andy asked her as he drove. "We can ask Rusty if he'd do it, that might take his mind off of other things" Sharon answered as they pulled into the parking lot of the doggie day care place. "Sure, that might help him" Andy said as he got out of the car and took Moxie inside the place.

When Andy got back in the car, he hesitated a little and Sharon noticed. "What's wrong?" she asked him as she watched him. "In all of my times getting into trouble and having meetings with you when you were in IA and FID and other meetings with my superior officers, I've never been nervous but for some reason, I am now" Andy said to her as he looked at her when he spoke. She grabbed his hand and held it. "You're going to be fine" she said. Andy sighed and then started the car and drove them to work.

Meanwhile, Provenza sat in the Murder Room waiting for everyone to arrive. He was reading the morning paper when Assistant Chief Mason walked in with Chief Howard. "Ah, Good Morning Lieutenant" Assistant Chief Mason said as he walked over to Provenza's desk. He glanced around the office and saw Lieutenant Tao sitting at his desk looking over something. "Early riser this morning?" he asked Provenza. Provenza shifted in his seat while he looked at Tao. Tao looked at Provenza and raised his eyebrows. "Assistant Chief Mason, what can I do for you this morning?" Provenza said to him.

"I was just wondering if the Commander was in yet" Assistant Chief Mason said. "No, but she should be here soon" Provenza said as he looked at his watch. "Alright, I'll leave you two. Just let the Commander know I stopped by" Assistant Chief Mason said as he nodded to Chief Howard and Provenza and walked through the office. "Lieutenant" Assistant Chief Mason said to Tao. "Chief" Tao replied and turned back to his computer.

"So, what did you decide to do with Flynn?" Chief Howard asked Provenza. Provenza looked at him. "What do you mean? He disobeyed your order, Chief Howard" Provenza stated back. "But, you're his supervisor" Chief Howard said in return. Provenza moved some paperwork on his desk as Chief Howard took out an envelope from the bag he was holding. "Here, this is a letter of reprimand that I signed stating what occurred and what Lieutenant Flynn did. I want you to sign it, and then he will sign it when he gets in" Chief Howard explained as Provenza read the letter.

"Chief, what are we talking about here?" Provenza asked. "Lieutenant, he disobeyed my order that I gave him. It would have been different if it was just the three of us in that command center, but it wasn't" Chief Howard stated. "It's just a letter that will go in his file, I'm not deducting his pay, or anything else, now what is the big deal here?" Chief Howard asked Provenza. "I'll tell you what the big deal is. You allowed him to stay in the command center with you while you coordinated the operation. He saw everything that occurred to his wife, a fellow police commander, the head of this division. Would you have stayed put if former Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson was in the position that the Commander was in?" Provenza questioned Chief Howard.

Just then, Julio and Amy walked into the office with Buzz behind them. "Morning guys" Amy said to everyone there. "Yeah, morning Sykes" Provenza said in a grumpy tone as he looked over the letter one more time. "Lieutenant, can I see you outside?" Chief Howard said, almost impatiently to Provenza and then waited for him to get up from his chair.

They went outside the office and stood in the hallway. "I would have done the same thing, Lieutenant if the roles were reversed" Chief Howard said in a low voice so no one else heard him. "I looked up the table of offenses, and disobeying a direct order could be construed as insubordination. And do you know what the punishment for insubordination, no matter if it's the first offense or the second offense?" he asked Provenza as they both stood there. "Removal" Provenza said in a defeated tone. "Now, I'm not going to push insubordination, once again, this is just a letter and he agrees to not do it again" Chief Howard said quietly. "Flynn" muttered Provenza as he signed the letter.

Andy pulled the car into the parking garage and found their spot. He turned the car off and held the keys in his hand. Sharon watched him and shook her head. "Come on, you're worse than Matthew was this morning" she said. Andy turned to her. "Yes, but he got to wear your Commander pin this morning to school" Andy pouted. "Oh, I see, so you want me to give you something that you could wear to get you through this meeting, is that right?" Sharon asked as she smiled at him.

"Well, Commander, you see, I have to meet with a Deputy Chief and a grumpy Lieutenant, and I just need some sort of encouragement from you, you know, since you gave our son some encouraging words this morning" Andy said in a sexy, low voice as he smiled at her. "Hmm, well I don't have any more pins to give out, but I do have something that you might want" Sharon flirted back at him as she pulled on his tie and brought his face closer to hers. She kissed him in the car. It was very sensual and made Andy forget all about his meeting.

"That should get you through the meeting, Lieutenant" Sharon smiled. Andy cleared his throat and tried to think of something else as Sharon fixed her lipstick. "Yes ma'am" he replied and waited until Sharon was ready to get out of the car. That also gave him time for himself to calm down. She gave him a nod and they both got out of the car. Andy met Sharon on the other side and the two of them walked towards the elevators.

As they rode up to the ninth floor, Sharon held Andy's hand in hers. She gently squeezed it a couple of times to reassure him. The elevator doors opened and the two of them got off on their floor. As they made their way towards their office, Andy stopped short and saw Provenza speaking with Chief Howard. He gave a little groan but Sharon encouraged him. "Come on, you'll be fine" she whispered to him as they kept walking.

Provenza turned around as Chief Howard gestured towards someone behind him and saw Andy walking towards them with Sharon by his side. "Ah, Good morning Commander!" Provenza said with some enthusiasm. "Morning Lieutenant, Chief Howard" Sharon greeted them. "Morning Commander, Lieutenant Flynn" Chief Howard said. "Well, I'm going to head to my office" she said to all of them as she squeezed Andy's hand one more time. Andy watched her walk inside and the door closed behind her. "Alright, let's get this over with" Andy muttered to Provenza and Chief Howard.

"We can go in the break room" Provenza pointed in the direction of the break room and they followed him there. Andy sat down at one of the tables and Provenza brought a chair over from another table and joined him and Chief Howard. "Okay, Lieutenant Flynn, as you are well aware, being in command of a team and giving orders to that team is crucial in the executing of a particular mission" Chief Howard started to say as Provenza rolled his eyes.

"On Saturday, I gave you a direct order which you did not adhere to. Now given the circumstances, I understand why you didn't listen to me and did what you did. I would have probably done the same thing if I was in your position and it was my wife that was being held at gun point" Chief Howard explained. "I want you to understand that this is serious in nature, and not to be taken lightly" he added as Andy shifted in the chair he was sitting in. "I understand, Chief" Andy replied, almost stoic. "And I want to say that I'm sorry, and it will never happen again" Andy added.

"Good, that's exactly what I want to hear" Chief Howard said as he pulled out the letter and placed it on the table in front of Andy. "This letter is going to be in your file, for one year. Feel free to read it, and then sign at the bottom on the last page" Chief Howard explained to Andy as he took the letter and started to read it. "Did you read this?" Andy asked Provenza as he looked at him. Provenza nodded his head and Andy went back to reading the letter.

Andy looked up from reading the letter at Chief Howard and then Provenza. "You're not charging me with insubordination?" Andy questioned them. "No, I'm not Lieutenant" Chief Howard answered and Andy let out a breath he didn't know he was holding still. "But I'm serious Andy, don't do it again, otherwise it won't be me you'll be dealing with" Chief Howard added and Andy nodded in acknowledgment. "I know" he muttered to himself, knowing that it would either be Sharon, Assistant Chief Mason, or worse, Chief of Police Pope, if that happened again.

Andy signed the letter and placed the pen back on the table on top of the letter. "Alright, let us all get back to work and forget this even happened!" Provenza said as he stood up from his chair, placed the letter in a folder, and walked over to the door. "Come on Flynn!" he said to Andy as he opened the door. Andy stood up and so did Chief Howard. "Thank you Chief" Andy said as he shook Howard's hand. "Stay out of trouble" Chief Howard called out to Andy as he left the break room with Provenza. "Brenda was right" Chief Howard said to himself as he shook his head and left the break room himself, headed towards his office.

"As your supervisor, I'm obligated to place this letter in your personnel file, which is in the Commander's office" Provenza said as he opened the door to the Murder Room. Andy followed him inside. "However, I am not going to disturb her right now, Tao was working on something earlier regarding the bank robbery" he explained to Andy as they made their way back to their desks. Andy glanced over at Sharon's office. She was there sitting behind her desk and she looked up just as he was passing her office. She nodded and then stood up from her desk and joined everyone else in the room.

"Commander, I've identified the fourth bank robber from his fingerprints" Mike said to Sharon and then the rest of the team. "Well, who is it Tao?" Julio asked as they gathered around his desk. A picture of Charles "Chase" Weston popped up on the screen. "Does this guy ring any bells?" Mike asked as they all looked at the computer screen. "Yeah, but that guy didn't look like the guy who robbed the bank Saturday" Andy said to the group. Mike printed the picture out and Julio placed it on the board.

"Charles "Chase" Weston, brother of Eric Weston, from the bonds case we worked on just before Christmas" Sharon said as she closely looked at the person's picture that was now on the Murder Board. "Are we sure it's him, Tao?" Provenza asked. "We are 99 percent sure on this one" Mike replied as he sat back in his chair.

"So, how did Chase Weston get mixed up with this group of guys from Lancaster?" Julio asked them. "Don't know, he never served time there, so we don't know how they met up" Mike answered as he looked around at the team. "Well, right now we don't have a case as this one is closed, but if you guys want to work on this and see where it goes, by all means do so, but, if a new case does come up, that takes priority" Sharon said to the team as she started to walk back to her office. She nodded to Provenza and motioned for Andy to follow her inside. They both did and Provenza closed the door behind them once they were all inside.

Andy noticed that his personnel file was sitting on Sharon's desk as he walked in. "Okay, Lieutenant Provenza, here is Lieutenant Flynn's file that you requested" Sharon said as she pointed to the file on her desk. Provenza placed the letter that they had just signed on top of his file and closed it. "Thank you Lieutenant, you can go. I'd like to speak to Lieutenant Flynn still" Sharon said and Provenza nodded. "Of course, Commander" he said as he exited her office.

Andy stood there not knowing what Sharon wanted to say to him. "So, was it as bad as you thought it would be?" she asked him as she took a seat and she gestured for him to do the same. "No, it wasn't" Andy said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Good" she said as she shuffled some papers around. "Now, I have a fax from your doctor here that says you can return to field work" she said as she picked up that paper and showed it to Andy. Andy smiled as he read that and handed it back to her.

Sharon then placed that fax from his doctor on top of the letter in his file and then closed his file and moved it to the cabinet behind her desk. She turned around and went about going through the rest of the paperwork that was on her desk. "Try not to get into trouble again, Lieutenant" Sharon said as Andy stood back up and headed out to his desk. "Yes Commander!" he said to her, giving her a salute, and then left her office.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thanks again for the great reviews on this story. This is going to be the last chapter of this story, but I am writing another story as we speak that will pick about a week after this one leaves off. Thanks again!

Chapter 10

"So, the reason we didn't recognize Chase Weston when he was in the bank was because we never actually met him before" Andy said to Mike and Provenza as they sat next to each other at Mike's desk. "That's right! We only met Eric, his brother" Mike added. "Yes, who is still missing, disappeared, on the run, whatever you want to call it" Provenza muttered to them. Andy gave him a look and then continued looking at Mike's computer screen. "But why weren't we notified that this Chase guy was back in the area of LA?" Andy asked. "The BOLO was only if they crossed the international border" Amy explained.

Provenza looked around the room. "So, you would think Eric would show up since his brother was killed in a LAPD operation?" he asked Andy and Mike as he watched Julio and Amy shuffle some paperwork. "Hard to say, we don't really know where he's been or if he even knows what happened," Andy said with a concerned look on his face. "I wouldn't worry about it, guys. It's not like he's going to come after us" Mike said to them. "Besides, we had a similar case on Badge just recently and" Mike started but Andy didn't let him finish.

"Really Mike? You want to talk about your show right now? And what do you mean, don't worry about it? This is the guy that had all of the C4 in his basement when we searched his house! The same guy that blew up the lockers at Union Station downtown!" Andy said in a frustrated tone, almost yelling. "Alright, alright, that's enough Flynn!" Provenza was angry as he pointed at him with his finger. "Sorry" Andy muttered as he moved back over to his desk and sat down there. He hated when Mike brought up his TV show, and he knew it would only raise his blood pressure if he thought about it.

"Too bad we just can't ask him where his brother is, sir" Julio chimed in to the conversation. "Yeah, it's a little late for that I'm afraid" Provenza said as he walked back to his desk and sat down. Truth was they didn't know where Eric Weston had gone to. They didn't know why Chase Weston would show up of all places, robbing a bank with former inmates from a prison he didn't attend.

Sharon had missed the conversation that was had earlier because she was in Assistant Chief Mason's office. When she had returned to the Murder Room, things were uncomfortably silent. She looked around the office at everyone there. Mike was looking down at his hands as he was fidgeting with them. Amy was pretending to be reading something at her desk. Julio played with his pencil. Provenza was staring over at Andy. And when Sharon glanced at Andy, he was sitting at his desk staring at a blank computer screen.

"Alright, what did I miss here?" Sharon said questioning her team but no one answered her. She looked around the room again. Still no one answered her. She was getting frustrated as she crossed her arms. "Okay, Buzz tell me what happened while I was gone" Sharon demanded. Buzz looked up from his desk. "Uh, me Commander?" Buzz asked as he glanced at Provenza and Mike. Sharon gave her best Darth look at him and he complied.

"The Lieutenants were discussing Chase Weston and his brother, Eric, from our previous open case" Buzz stated to Sharon as she stood there in the middle of the room. "And?" Sharon asked as she wanted Buzz to continue. Buzz just looked at her like he was a deer in headlights. He felt uncomfortable telling her the rest and hoped that someone else would chime in. Buzz opened his mouth slightly to say something else but luckily for him, Provenza chimed in.

"Ah, Commander, we were just discussing something from that case which brought up an argument but it's been taken care of, I assure you" Provenza said to Sharon as he stared at Andy. Andy scoffed at Provenza's explanation. Sharon looked at Provenza. "Alright, Lieutenant" she said and then turned around and headed to her office, but she went to the door that was closest to Andy's desk and as she passed him, she briefly touched his arm. Andy looked up at her and then watched her go into her office.

The rest of the day flew by quickly and before the team knew it, it was already close to quitting time. Provenza got up from his desk and walked over to Sharon's office. He stood there and knocked on her door listening for her to say "Come in" before he actually walked in her office. "Ah, Commander. I was wondering if we were good to start calling it a day," Provenza asked her. Sharon looked up from her paperwork and placed her pen down on top of it. "Sure Lieutenant, but only after you tell me what really was going on earlier today in the office" she said to him.

This caught Provenza off guard and he started to stammer. "Um, like I said earlier, we had a discussion that turned into an argument, but the team is fine, nothing to worry about" Provenza said as he tried to reassure Sharon. "Who got into the argument, Lieutenant?" Sharon asked point blankly. Provenza paused for a moment as he looked down at his feet. "It's really nothing, Commander. And it's certainly not going to affect the team. We were all just kidding around with one another" Provenza explained to her.

It was Sharon's turn to pause for a moment as she watched Provenza stand in front of her desk. "Okay, I trust that you handled it and everything is good, is that right?" Sharon said, asking Provenza. "Uh, yes Captain, I mean Commander, sorry, old habit" Provenza said. "Fine, Lieutenant, are we any closer to figuring out why Chase Weston was involved in this group?" Sharon asked him. "No, we are not closer than we were this morning" he answered her. "We are trying to figure out why he was involved with this group that he has no specific ties to and we are also trying to figure out where Eric Weston is hiding" he added as he leaned against the chair he was standing in front of.

"That is the mystery we have here, isn't it" Sharon said as she glanced around the office. "Have a good night, Lieutenant" she told Provenza. "Good night Commander" Provenza said to her as he quickly left her office and informed the rest of the team they could go home. Andy stood up and walked over to Mike's desk as he was packing up his bag. "Hey Mike, I, uh, I'm sorry for my outburst earlier" Andy said apologizing to him. "Don't worry about it, Andy. See you guys tomorrow" he said as he walked out of the office. Andy glanced at Provenza and then he walked back to his desk to wait for Sharon.

Sharon came out of her office about fifteen minutes later and leaned up on the corner of Andy's desk. "Is everything okay?" she asked him as she ran her hand down his left shoulder and arm. He looked up at her. "Yes" he said as he relaxed his features, and continued to look at her at his desk. The way the sunlight was shining into the office gave her an almost angelic look. Andy smiled a big, wide grin. "How was your meeting with Mason?" he asked her as he relaxed as her hands were making their way up to his hair.

Sharon was getting a little carried away in the office but there was no one there to hide from and besides, she saw how tense Andy was earlier. She was just happy that he could relax, even if it was for a couple of minutes before they left to pick up Matthew from school. "My meeting was fine. He just wanted to know how I was doing after Saturday. He also asked about you, and how you were doing" Sharon answered. "He did?" shocked that Mason would even care about him. Sharon, yes, but him, he was too much of a liability for Mason to worry about.

"I know it may come as a shock to you, Andy Flynn, but there are other people here besides the team and myself that actually care about you" Sharon informed him as she stood up and grabbed her bag. "Are you ready to go?" she asked him. He stood up and smiled at her again. "Yes, my lady" he said to her as he held out his hand for her to take. They walked out of the Murder Room feeling good about the day.

They were in the elevator alone as they rode down to the parking garage. "So, do you want to tell me what happened in the office today?" Sharon asked Andy quietly as they stood there in the elevator. "Oh, um, me, Provenza, and Mike were all discussing that Chase Weston guy and then his brother, Eric, was brought up. Mike said something stupid and I took exception to it. Provenza yelled at me and I went back to my desk, that's it" Andy explained as the elevator doors opened to the parking garage.

"What did Mike say that you took exception to?" Sharon asked as they made their way to their car. Andy let out a breath before he spoke. "He said we shouldn't worry about Eric and I reminded him about all that C4 that guy had in his house, and how he blew up part of Union Station" Andy said as he unlocked their car and held the door open for Sharon to get in. "That's it?" she inquired as she sat in the passenger seat. "Well, no, he may have mentioned something about his stupid show Badge, as well," Andy quickly said the last part and closed Sharon's door before he could hear what she had to say.

He knew that wasn't a smart move he just made as he was going to get an earful as soon as he stepped inside the driver's seat. He hesitated and then slowly slipped in the driver's seat and quickly glanced over at Sharon. Sharon was watching him the whole time and Andy then looked at the steering wheel. "Go ahead and say it, Sharon," Andy said to her before he started the car. "What do you want me to say?" she asked him. Andy sighed before he spoke. "That I shouldn't let some horrible TV show bother me." Sharon laughed and then reached over to caress his face. "See, I don't need to say anything if you already know," she said. Andy started the car and drove to Matthew's school.

Sharon held Andy's right hand the whole time over to Matthew's school. Holding his hand brought a sense of calm to her and she always grabbed it whenever they were driving together. As Andy drove to the school, Sharon caressed her thumb over the top of his hand which brought a smile to his face.

As they pulled up to the school, Andy found a parking spot and parked the car. There were other parents or guardians picking up their kids as Sharon and Andy made their way inside the school building. Sharon walked over to where the after school care pickup was located. "Oh, hello Mrs. Flynn!" one of the after school care teachers said to Sharon. "Hi, here to pick up Matthew," Sharon said to her as she looked around the room at the children but she didn't see Matthew there. "Matthew is with the Principal and school nurse right now," the teacher said. "What?" Sharon looked startled and turned around to walk back to where Andy was standing.

"What's going on?" he asked Sharon as she approached him. "Matthew's with the school nurse and the Principal" Sharon said as she walked quickly over to where the school office was down the hall from them. Andy caught up to her. "Why weren't we notified if something happened to him?" Andy asked as they stepped inside the office. "Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Flynn, I was just getting ready to call you," the school nurse said to them. "What happened?" Sharon asked her. "Well, about two minutes ago, Matthew complained that his arm was itching him and the teacher brought him to me to take a look at a mark on his arm," the nurse explained as they walked to where Matthew was sitting.

Matthew waved to both of them as he saw them enter the smaller room. "It looks like a bee sting to me. I gave him some ice to put on it," the nurse said as Andy walked over to Matthew. "Hey buddy, you got stung?" Andy asked him. "I guess so, I don't even remember it happening. We were playing outside a couple of minutes ago and then when the teacher called us in, my arm started to itch," Matthew said as he shrugged his shoulders while still holding the ice pack on his arm.

"Do you know if he's allergic to bee stings, Mrs. Flynn?" the nurse asked Sharon. Sharon glanced over at Andy and Matthew and then turned back to the nurse. "Not that we're aware of" she said, and started to panic. 'What if he is allergic?' she thought to himself. "I don't see any signs of an immediate allergic reaction either and if he was allergic to them, we have epi-pens here in the office just in case," the nurse said, reassuring Sharon.

"Just keep an eye on him and you might want to stop and get Benadryl or an anti-itch cream to put on it. There was no stinger visible," the nurse stated as she watched Sharon walk over to where Matthew and Andy were. "Thank you," Sharon said as she turned to the nurse and then focused back on Matthew. She rubbed his head and Matthew gave her a small smile. "Ready to go?" she asked him and he nodded.

Matthew hopped off of the table he was sitting on and made his way back to the classroom, but before he did, he thanked the nurse for helping him. "My pleasure Matthew, I hope you feel better!" the nurse said to him and then finished what she was doing. Andy and Sharon walked behind Matthew as he went into the after school care area to pick up his backpack. He was still holding the ice pack to his arm as he brought out his backpack. "Here, let me get that," Andy said as he reached for Matthew's backpack to carry.

The three of them walked back to the car. Sharon had her arm around Matthew. "Besides the itching, how are you feeling?" she asked them as they walked. Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "May I see your arm?" she asked him as she took the ice pack from him when they got to the car. She bent down and looked at the sting closely. It was red with a little dot in the middle from where the stinger went in. "I'm sorry you got stung, sweetie," Sharon said to him as Andy unlocked the doors.

Matthew climbed into the backseat and Sharon made sure his seatbelt was secured. She then closed his door and looked at Andy who was standing right next to her. "Any thoughts with dinner?" he asked her. "We should have some anti-itch cream at home for him to use, I can call our favorite Italian place and we could pick it up on the way home?" Sharon suggested. "Sounds good," Andy said as he held her door open for her and the closed it once she got inside the car.

Sharon pulled out her phone and placed the order for the food while Andy drove them over to pick Moxie up next. On their way over, through the traffic on the streets of LA, Sharon decided that she would inform Matthew about their pending trip to Disneyland this weekend. "So, Matthew, your father and I were wondering if you would like to go to Disneyland this weekend with Avery and Colin, Nicole, Dean, and us, of course," Sharon said to him.

Matthew's head perked up when he heard the word Disneyland. "Disneyland?" he asked. "Yes, sweetie," Sharon said as she glanced at Andy. "Tommy was just saying last week how he had a good time there with his family, they stayed at some hotel right outside the entrance to the park, and he got to go on all the rides there!" Matthew sounded excited the way he was describing the park. "But what if you have to work?" he asked them. "Well, we have the weekend off right now, pending no other cases come to us," Sharon said to him as Andy pulled into the parking lot of the doggie day care place.

"Would we spend the night there?" he asked them. "Yes, we would be staying at a hotel there on their property," Sharon explained as Andy got out of the car. Matthew was still holding the ice pack to his arm, even though the ice was melting and getting water all over his school pants. "What about Moxie?" he asked her. "Well, we could ask Rusty to watch him again," Sharon answered. "Colin and Avery are going?" he asked. "Yes, they are," Sharon said. "Okay!" Matthew said excitedly.

Andy then opened the back door and Moxie jumped in the car. He was wagging his tail as Matthew was petting him with his hand, forgetting about the ice pack he was supposed to be holding against his arm. "Everything good?" Andy asked Sharon as he got into the car. "Yes, let's go pick up the food now," she smiled and Andy drove off towards the restaurant.

By the time they finally got home, after picking up the food, it was closer to 7 o'clock. Sharon carried the food in to the house and placed the containers on top of the counter on the island. Matthew carried in the ice pack baggie that was now, mostly water than ice. "Here you go," he said to Sharon, and tried to hand her the ice pack as she turned around. "Oh, honey, place that in the kitchen sink!" she told him and Matthew walked over to the sink and plopped the bag inside. He then took the kitchen towel that was laying out and dried his arm off. He accidentally rubbed the bee sting too roughly and yelled out. "Ouch!" Sharon heard and then rushed over to Matthew by the sink.

"What happened?" she asked him. "I rubbed the sting and now it hurts more," Matthew cried. "Oh, sweetie, let me see that," Sharon said and tried to soothe him with her gentle touch on his arm. After looking at it, she walked over to where they kept the first aid kit and took out Neosporin and placed some cream on the sting area. "This should help the pain," she said to him. "Ahh!" Matthew cried but then noticed that it was getting better.

Sharon looked at Matthew's face and wiped the tears that were on his cheek. "Go wash your hands and get ready for dinner," she told him as she put the first aid kit away. Matthew ran into the bathroom and washed his hands. Andy then came inside the house, carrying Sharon's bag and Matthew's backpack. Moxie followed him inside the kitchen. Andy placed Matthew's backpack by the sliding glass door and then placed Sharon's bag at the end of the counter.

Sharon was getting down some plates for them to use for dinner and Andy opened the containers that were on the counter. Matthew then came back into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Sharon fixed him a plate and brought it over to him. "Is your arm feeling better?" she asked him as she set down his plate in front of him. Matthew nodded and started to eat his food.

"Rusty pulled up after you guys were already in the house. I asked him if he wanted dinner, he was welcome to join us. He said he would be down in a little bit," Andy said to Sharon as he made his own plate from the food they got. "Hmm, well we have plenty of food here for everyone," Sharon said as she placed some salad on her plate. Andy and Sharon then joined Matthew at the table.

Rusty came by about ten minutes later and joined them for dinner. He talked about what his day was like today as Andrea and him were in court this morning for one of her cases. "It's really interesting to watch her speak to the jury. It's no wonder she's won a lot of cases for the DA," Rusty said as he ate spaghetti. "I'm glad you are enjoying that internship with her," Sharon told him as she finished her food. They sat around and talked some more as Andy cleaned up the kitchen and went to go feed Moxie.

"Rusty, guess what happened today at school," Matthew said to him. "Oh, I don't know?" Rusty replied. Matthew then showed his arm to Rusty and pointed at the bee sting. "I got stung by a bee!" Matthew said, almost in a proud manner. "Ohh, that looks like it hurts!" Rusty said to him as he glanced over at Sharon. "It did, but Mommy put some cream on it and it doesn't hurt anymore," Matthew told Rusty.

Sharon got up from the table and took the plates over to the sink. "Do you have homework, Matthew?" Sharon asked him as she placed the plates in the sink. "No, I did my homework at after school care," Matthew answered. "Did Mommy tell you that her and Daddy are taking me to Disneyland this weekend?" Matthew said to Rusty as they sat at the table. "No, they did not tell me. That sounds like fun!" Rusty said to him. "Yes, Avery and Colin and Nicole and Dean are also going," Matthew said.

Rusty looked at Sharon. "We'll only be gone for one night, that's if we don't catch a case by then, although we do have the weekend off," Sharon explained to Rusty as Matthew left the table to go see what Moxie was doing. "What are you going to do with the dog?" Rusty asked her. "Well, we were wondering if you could watch him that night and then during the day on Sunday," Sharon asked him. "Yeah, I could do that," Rusty said. "Besides, it might help me take my mind off of Gus and his restaurant," Rusty added.

Sharon sat back down at the table next to Rusty. "So, how are you doing on that front?" she asked him. "I don't know," Rusty said and then Andy and Matthew came back from the mud room. "Alright, the dog is all fed and Matthew helped," Andy said as he picked up Matthew's backpack and looked through it as he leaned up against the counter. "I did all my homework, Dad," Matthew said to Andy but Andy pulled out his take home folder anyway. "Good, I'm just going to look at your folder for a minute," Andy said to him. Sharon and him agreed that every night, one of them would look at his take home folder to make sure that he was keeping up with the homework and to see if he had brought any papers home for them to sign.

A half hour later, Matthew was upstairs with Andy and he got ready for bed. "How's your sting bite?" Andy asked him. "It's okay," Matthew said as he brushed his teeth. "Can I play in my room until Mommy comes up?" Matthew asked Andy as they walked back to his room. "Sure buddy," Andy said and then Matthew ran into his room to play. Andy walked over to the stairs and leaned over the railing a little. "Sharon?" he called out.

Sharon was sitting at her desk in the den when she heard Andy call out her name. "Yes?" she answered as she rolled her chair to the doorway. "Are you coming up soon?" he asked her as he was leaning on the banister upstairs. "Yes, I'll be up in a couple of minutes," Sharon replied and the rolled her chair back over to her desk. Andy shook his head as he went into their bedroom. "While she is down there, I just want to make sure it's still hidden" he said to himself as he went into one of his drawers in the dresser and pulled out a long jewelry box from way in the back.

Andy opened the jewelry box and inside, he saw the necklace he had bought her with all of her children's birthstones on it, including Matthew's. "She's going to love it," he said to no one in particular and then placed the box back inside the drawer. Then he got ready for bed.

After he did, he walked back over to Matthew's room and found Matthew sound asleep on his bed, on top of the covers, with Moxie sleeping by his side. He didn't want to disturb either one of them so he took a blanket from Matthew's closet and placed it over him, and tucked him in for the night. He then turned off the overhead light, leaving just the lamp on by his bed and closed the door behind him.

Sharon was coming up the stairs as he left Matthew's room. "Is he sleeping?" she asked him. "Yes, out like a light," Andy said to her and she peeked inside his room. She then joined Andy in their room and got herself ready for bed. Andy was sitting on their bed when Sharon came out of their bathroom wearing her pajamas.

"Is it weird that I'm excited for our trip to Disneyland?" he said to her as she joined him on the bed. "Hmm, no. I'm actually looking forward to it as well. I haven't been there in so long, it will be nice to see the looks on the kids' faces when they see everything there," she said to him as she pulled back the covers.

Sharon settled in front of Andy as they both laid on their sides. Sharon had a worried look on her face. "Is everything okay?" Andy whispered to her. Sharon hummed. "Yes, I was just thinking about something, that's all," she answered him as they faced each other. He leaned over and kissed her. "Don't let this case keep you up, it's closed," he whispered to her as if he could read her mind. She hadn't thought about the Weston brothers since before Christmas, and thought that was the last time they would be seeing either one of them, but when Mike identified the fourth robber as Eric's brother, Chase, that brought the old case back to the forefront.

She laid there facing Andy as he held her in bed. He caressed her face as she looked at him. "I love you, Sharon," he whispered to her. "I love you too, Andy," she answered him. They had a rough couple of days but were able to work through it and conquer the demons that tried to derail them. Now they were moving forward together and had something to look forward to the following weekend as they both drifted off to sleep.

The End


End file.
